by Cary Osborne
Max Muncy remembers a few things after Chicago White Sox infielder Michael A. Taylor slid into his knee at third base in the sixth inning on July 2.
“This is it,” was one of those things. The other was “I’ve got to get off the field.”
Muncy thought his season was over. And with Clayton Kershaw sitting on 2,999 career strikeouts, the Dodger third baseman — despite the pain he was in — didn’t want to delay the game and break his longtime teammate’s concentration.
In a best-case scenario, Muncy suffered no structural damage that night, and he is back tonight a month after suffering the left knee bone bruise.
“We certainly missed him,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I am surprised (that he returned so quickly). … He’s put in a lot of work to get back with this timeline. We’ve needed him to put him back somewhere in the middle of the order. It just kind of lengthens and strengthens our lineup.”
The Dodger offense has struggled since Muncy left the lineup on July 3.
The Dodgers’ 88 runs rank last in MLB since July 3. The team’s .225 batting average ranks 29th (next to last). The team’s .665 OPS ranks 28th.
From May 27-July 2, Muncy was batting .326/.449/.684/1.133 with 10 home runs in 31 games. Muncy cautioned that his calling-card pitch-recognition excellence might take some time to get back.
“It’s probably going to take a couple of games,” he said. “You miss over a month of games, it’s not just going to be right there instantly. Obviously, I’m going to hope it is. And there’s always a chance that it is. But tonight’s not the easiest test. (St. Louis Cardinals starter Sonny Gray) is mixing it a lot, and he’s got really good stuff, and he’s always given me trouble in the past a little bit.”
Muncy played five games for Triple-A Oklahoma City on a rehab assignment. He was 0-for-9 with five strikeouts in the first three games. He was 5-for-6 with a home run and one strikeout in the final two. He said he was able to fix a mechanical flaw between the games that helped him achieve better results over the last two games.
With Tommy Edman going on the injured list due to a right ankle sprain on Monday, Muncy is thrust right back into the Dodger lineup. That gives rookie Alex Freeland more runway.
Freeland will play second base on Tuesday then shift to third base on Wednesday. Muncy will start tonight and Tuesday at third base.
“I’m just extremely thankful to be able to be back on the baseball field this year,” Muncy said. “And I’m going to try to enjoy every second of it just knowing how close it was to not being there.”
Max Muncy returns grateful, as are the Dodgers was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.