Just when a good many Dodgers fans were ready to throw in the towel on 32-year-old Dodgers utility infielder Max Muncy, the struggling Midland, TX native and fifth-round draft pick in 2012 by the Oakland Athletics out of Baylor, and who has been a mainstay for the Dodgers offense throughout his five seasons in LA, appears to be back to his familiar two-time All-Star self – and not a moment too soon.

After his first 79 games, Muncy was hitting a dismal .158 with a .612 OPS and only nine home runs. But from July 28 through August 22, a span of 21 games, he slashed .311/.409/.676, with seven home runs. But he then hit the skids again, going 4-for-35 with no home runs over his next nine games, causing many Dodgers fans to reach for their towels.

Hold those towels, folks.

On Tuesday night in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 39,752, Muncy doubled and hit two home runs in the Dodgers 6-3 win over ‘The Hated Ones,’ and by all appearances, the Max Muncy that we all know and love is back.

“Things kind of clicked for me. I found a little mechanical adjustment with my legs, something that I wasn’t really feeling that I had to take a look at, made the adjustment, and the results were there tonight,” Muncy told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson after his impressive two-homer / three-hit night. “The biggest thing to me was the flight path. The ball wasn’t coming off too high, I was able to get my barrel trough the zone. To me, that was the more important part, and obviously the home runs are amazing, but the more important part was the way the ball was coming, you know, the direction it was coming out.”

Muncy’s first blast was a 383-foot / two-run shot to right-center field in the bottom of the third inning to give the Dodgers a (then) 5-1 lead. His second came in the bottom of the sixth inning, a 392-foot opposite field solo shot to left-center field, for the Dodgers sixth and final run of the night. He also doubled to leadoff the bottom of the second inning, to go 3-for-4 on the night with three RBIs.

“It’s playing out really well. He’s just taking really consistent at-bats, and tonight, to see him hit two homers and double, I think, just a really nice night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Muncy. “Really happy for him. He’s been obviously grinding all year to kind of get to this position.

“Like I said, I’ve always said, he’s a big part of what we’re doing as an offense, and when he’s going well, it seems like guys feed off that, because he’s always in the middle of things. So, again, tonight was a big night for us,” Roberts added.

All of this said, and keeping things in proper perspective, even after his All-Star-like night at the plate on Tuesday, Muncy is still hitting below the Mendoza Line at .192. However, and this is a huge however, he couldn’t have picked a better time to get smoking hot again, with only 27 games remaining in the regular season ahead of what figures to be a very dominant Dodgers postseason.

Play Ball!

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