Max Effort

It is a game that Dodgers fans won’t soon forget, especially fans of 32-year-old Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, who accounted for both of the Dodgers hits and all three of their runs in Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 51,015 on the night that former Dodgers great and current broadcaster Orel Hershiser was inducted into the ‘Legends of Dodger Baseball.’

All the Midland, TX native and fifth round draft pick in 2012 by the Oakland Athletics out of Baylor University who the Dodgers signed as a free agent on April 28, 2017 did was hit two home runs, the first a 400-foot two-run shot to right-center field in the bottom of the first inning to give the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead, and the second a 371-foot solo shot down the right field line in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a then 2-2 tie and give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead and the eventual final score.

“I think I just got a couple mistakes, you know,” Muncy told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “I thought (29-year-old Reds right-hander Luke) Weaver was very good today, especially for our lefties. He was pounding the fastball up and in very good, he wasn’t missing out over the plate, and thankfully, I got two of his rare mistakes today and I was able to get the barrel to it.”

Muncy’s first home run in the bottom of the first inning gave the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead, and his solo shot in the bottom of the sixth gave his team a 3-2 lead and the final score. They were also the Dodgers only two hits of the game. (SportsNet LA).

“Max is a big cog in what we’re trying to do and it was pretty much Max Muncy and Emmet (Sheehan) verses the Reds tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame.

The 23-year-old Dodgers right-hander allowed no runs and only two hits with five strikeouts and one walk in his 5.0 innings pitched on Saturday night. Unfortunately for the New York, NY native and Dodgers sixth round draft pick in 2021 out of Boston College, struggling 27-year-old Dodgers right-hander Caleb Ferguson blew Sheehan’s 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning when he allowed two runs on three hits with one walk and one strikeout in his two-thirds of an inning pitched.

Ferguson’s inability to hold on to the Dodgers then 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning cost Sheehan what should have been is fourth win of the season with only one loss. (Jon SooHoo)

But just-returned (and extremely popular) 35-year-old Dodgers right-hander Joe Kelly put the fire out by recording the final out of the sixth inning when he struck out Reds pinch-hitter Will Benson looking with the bases loaded, leaving Dodger Stadium literally rocking. Because of the timing (and Ferguson’s inability to hold the Dodgers lead), Kelly was credited with the win, his second of the season against five losses.

New (old) fan-favorite Dodgers right-hander Joe Kelly had the Ravine rocking on Saturday night when he struck out Reds pinch-hitter Will Benson looking with the bases loaded to end the top of the sixth inning. Kelly would end up earning the win after Muncy’s tie-breaking solo home run in the bottom of the inning. (Juan Ocampo).

It was indeed a game that won’t soon be forgotten by Dodgers, Max Muncy, Emmet Sheehan, and Joe Kelly fans.

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Update:

Play Ball!

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