by Cary Osborne
No pregame pomp and circumstance. No players lined up along the baselines or a flyover from a giant military plane.
But it was re-Opening Day at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers, with the return of Max Muncy after missing three months with a right oblique strain and the debut of Tommy Edman, who was acquired before the trade deadline, had their most full-strength lineup in certainly the second half.
Muncy homered, Edman had a single and two Gavins — Stone and Lux — were catalysts in the Dodgers’ 3–0 win in Game 126 of the season on Monday at Dodger Stadium.
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“Now we’re finally healthy on the position player side,” said manager Dave Roberts.
Muncy is a big factor for the Dodgers going forward.
One of nine players in the Majors with four 30-home run seasons since 2018, Muncy won’t get that number this season after missing 80 games with an oblique strain. But he hit his 10th homer of the season on Monday — a two-run shot in the seventh inning — in his first game back.
“Once we finally got it fixed and figured out what it was, it felt like it really wasn’t even injured,” Muncy said. “So it was just going out there and just trusting that my body was going to be able to do what it can do. The swings have been getting off good. My bat speed has been similar to what it was before I got hurt. Just knowing that, understanding I got to get the barrel there and the ball’s going to come off good.”
When Muncy came down with the injury in mid-May, there was even a discussion of whether or not he should be on the injured list. But as he tried to work his way back, the oblique wouldn’t respond. Muncy received chiropractic adjustments and would feel good for a couple of days and then the oblique would bark again. It was discovered that his bottom rib was displaced. He had it reset and received an injection this month and it fixed the issue.
Muncy injected some offense on Monday and his powerful bat seemingly adds more dimension to the Dodger lineup.
“It’s a relentless lineup,” said manager Dave Roberts. “Versus left, versus right, you can see how we stagger the lefties and the righties. And there’s just really no lanes, whether it’s a starter, whether it’s the reliever. It seems like we always get a good matchup.”
And in the second half, there has been no bigger bat than Gavin Lux.
Lux led off the seventh inning with a solo home run against Seattle starter Bryan Woo, who allowed one hit through six innings.
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Lux reached base twice in four plate appearances, also drawing a walk.
He is batting .366/.434/.667/1.101 with six home runs, 16 extra-base hits and 20 RBI in 29 second-half games (106 plate appearances).
Lux had 13 extra-base hits in 78 first-half games (277 plate appearances).
He has raised his season average and OPS from .213 and ..562 to .254 and .706.
“As far as a guy that’s in his prime, I haven’t seen anything like this,” Roberts said of the turnaround. “There’s a lot of confidence. He’s staying in his legs now. To be able to homer to the big part of the field, slashing balls the other way, taking balls down below the zone … this is as good as I’ve seen him. And we’ve needed every bit of the performance. And I expect him to keep going because I think this is who he is now.”
The other Gavin was at his best.
Stone threw seven shutout innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters.
“Getting ahead was definitely key,” Stone said.
He threw a first-pitch strike to the first 12 batters and 14 of the first 15.
Stone has allowed one earned run over his last two starts (12 innings) and opponents are 5-for-40 against him.
Where They Stand
The Dodgers (74–52) maintain a three-game lead over San Diego and a four-game lead over Arizona in the NL West. San Diego and Arizona both won on Monday. The Dodgers send Walker Buehler to the mound for Game 2 of the three-game series against the Mariners on Monday.
Turner Returns
Justin Turner, who spent nine seasons with the Dodgers and was one of the faces of the franchise, returned for his first game as a visitor at Dodger Stadium since his departure after the 2022 season. He went 1-for-3 in the game.
A pregame ceremony recognized Turner for his contributions to the Dodgers, and he received a standing ovation before his first at-bat.
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The Dodgers are victorious on Re-Opening Day was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.