The Los Angeles Dodgers were able to complete a comeback victory against the New York Mets behind the bat of Max Muncy, but it was his error that contributed to putting them behind in the game.
After the Dodgers jumped ahead 4-1, the Mets rallied and took a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning.
They were aided when Muncy was unable to field a ground ball from Starling Marte for what would have been at least the second out of the inning and likely a double play. Instead, the Mets had two runners on with one out and went on to score both of them.
“You’re playing in, he’s shown bunt in the past,” Muncy explained. “I thought I was reading a bounce, and I just came up a little too early instead of staying through it. It’s just a stupid mistake.”
Defense has been an issue for Muncy throughout the season. He ranks in the first percentile of outs above average (OAA) with -7, placing him among the worst defenders in all of baseball.
In addition, Muncy has committed nine errors this season.
It’s a surprise after Muncy had his best defensive season in 2024, where he ranked above league average in OAA and made just six errors all year.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Muncy said of his defense continuing to struggle while his bat has rebounded. “You got to focus on both, you can’t ignore one. It’s just one of those things where it’s long days.
“It’s really long days at the field. You’re spending your time in the cage, you’re spending your time out on the field, and you’re just trying to get better at everything you can.
“And it’s what makes the baseball season so tough. You have to focus on so many different things.”
Muncy is on the field early every game to work with the Dodgers coaching staff on defensive drills, and also fielding ground balls.
Some of his defensive issues have been amplified by the injuries to the Dodgers’ pitching staff. With their top arms out, the pitchers currently available are allowing more hard-hit balls and more contact than would be expected from their primary arms.
That means they rely on the defense more to help them out, so errors usually end up being more costly. So while the returns for some of their top pitchers would help hide poor defense more, Muncy still needs to be better at the hot corner.
It’s not a stretch to expect Muncy to improve based on his performance last year. He also started that season poorly on defense before fixing some issues and improving down the stretch. But Muncy has also never been known for his glove, and his bat will be his carrying trait throughout the year.
Max Muncy makes up for errors
Muncy extended the Dodgers’ lead in the first inning when he hit a two-run homer, and then he tied the game in the ninth inning with a solo blast, making up for his error.
“Making mistakes really sucks,” Muncy said. “But when you do it, when you’ve got Kersh on the mound, it kind of cuts deep a little bit more. And so to be able to atone for that a little bit felt really huge for me.”
Muncy’s two-homer and three-RBI game propelled the Dodgers to an eventual walk-off win, and it let Clayton Kershaw off the hook from taking the loss.
“I mean, that’s part of being on a team,” Kershaw said. “We just try to pick each other up. He kind of made a tough play there, no big deal.
“But he’s swinging the bat awesome right now. So happy for him, obviously, I know he felt good to hit that second one for sure, but felt good for me too to see. So that was great.
“But errors happen, that’s part of the game, we’re all doing the best we can.”
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