by Megan Garcia
Max Muncy let out a roar as he approached rounded the bases in the sixth inning. With one swing, he achieved many things.
He gave the Dodgers the lead, hit his first homer against a left-hander this season and notched his 200th career home run in a Dodger uniform. And he was just getting started.
Muncy’s go-ahead grand slam set the tone in the Dodgers’ 13–7 win on Sunday against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium. His seven runs batted in via two homers led the Dodger offense, and helped the team secure the series win.
“He’s hitting balls to right-center field to left-center field, which really he hasn’t done with consistency since ’21, so he’s in a good spot,” said manager Dave Roberts. “He’s taking good at-bats. (It was) a big hit.”
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The Dodger offense started Sunday by being no-hit for 4 2/3 innings by Washington starter Michael Soroka. They were also trailing 3–0 after Nathaniel Lowe’s three-run homer against reliever Ben Casparius in the third.
But by the sixth inning, the offense found its rhythm. The Dodgers scored 13 runs in the final three innings. The Dodgers lead Major League Baseball with 29 comeback victories this season.
“It happens fast,” Roberts said of the comeback. “It’s a tale of two games in the sense of the first five innings and the last four innings.”
It had been 16 games since Muncy last hit a homer, which coincidentally was a two-homer game against the Mets on June 3. His grand slam against reliever Jose A. Ferrer in the sixth put the Dodgers on the board after 14 of the Dodgers’ first 15 batter were retired in order.
Among Muncy’s seven career grand slams, five have given the Dodgers the lead.
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“It was a good swing. I saw the guy last night, so I had a good idea of what he’s throwing in there and how to approach it,” Muncy said. “For me, it was just trying to keep the ball off the ground, get something in the air and get at least one run in. I was trying to do the job and put a good swing on it.”
He homered again in the seventh against Cole Henry, bringing in three runs. The veteran slugger now has 18 career multi-homer games and three career games with seven RBI.
“Confidence aside, right now I feel really good in the box,” Muncy said. “I feel really good in my mechanics; I’m seeing the ball well. Every single day it’s trying to take it one pitch at a time, trying not to do too much.”
Shohei Ohtani went 2-for-4 with five RBI after making his second start on the mound of the season. He hit a bases-clearing triple in the seventh and hit a two-run homer in the eighth. He is the National League’s home run leader with 26.
This was the third game in Ohtani’s Dodger career with at least five RBI.
Ohtani pitched one inning without allowing a hit, run or walk against the Nationals. The two-way player recorded two strikeouts in the 18 pitches (12 strikes) he threw.
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“That was the original plan,” Ohtani said of his one inning pitched. “I’m looking forward to adding more innings and more pitches.”
Mookie Betts contributed to the Dodgers’ seven-run seventh inning with an RBI single.
Casparius pitched five innings out of the bullpen after Ohtani’s scoreless first inning. He struck out two, walked one and gave up three earned runs. Kiké Hernández was tagged for four earned runs in the ninth.
The Dodgers went 7–3 to end the 10-game homestand.
Muncy and Ohtani unload on the Nationals to end homestand was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.