The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres, 6-4, in 10 innings on Wednesday night to earn a series victory at Petco Park, but perhaps the story of the night was an injury scare in the fifth inning.
Max Muncy was hit by a pitch on his right wrist, causing everyone with the Dodgers to collectively held their breath. Muncy was removed from the game, but it appears he may have avoided serious injury.
“We took some X-rays, and right now they’re negative, which is a sigh of relief for all of us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “At this point he’s day-to-day. I know he’s very sore, so we’ll kind of keep an eye on him.”
Fractured wrists and forearms are something the Dodgers have become all too familiar with. Justin Turner dealt with such an injury at the end of Spring Training last year and so did Chris Taylor after taking a pitch flush off his forearm.
Muncy didn’t have any protective padding to help absorb the 94 mph fastball. “Hit me right on the side of the wrist, right on the bone,” he said.
He immediately felt a rush of pain, which made him forget about his current struggles at the plate.
“Same thing I’m thinking right now: not good,” Muncy answered when asked what his first thought was upon getting hit. “It hurt, he got me good. Actually, if I’m being totally honest, my first thought was, ‘At least it wasn’t a strikeout.’ We’re where we’re at right now.”
While Roberts said that Muncy underwent some tests, it appears that he is not completely in the clear yet. “It wasn’t a full X-ray machine — I don’t know what they call it — but we got scans of it,” Muncy said.
“Everything looks OK for now. Maybe it’s just the bone bruise; we’re going to double-check it [Thursday] and keep our fingers crossed.”
The Dodgers are heading to Arizona on Thursday morning for a four-game series with the Diamondbacks.
Losing one of their best hitters in Muncy would obviously not be ideal for the Dodgers a month before they begin another postseason run. Muncy is remaining positive though and is hopeful it’s won’t be a long-term issue.
“I mean, there’s going to be a timetable for return but we’re hoping it’s good news,” he said.
Both Turner and Taylor missed around six weeks when they suffered fractures, so that would be the worst-case scenario for the Dodgers as that would stretch into October.
