The Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday with a blowout 9-0 victory at Dodger Stadium. It extended the club’s winning streak to six games, and they even gained some ground on the San Francisco Giants in the National League West standings.
L.A.’s offensive outburst was led by four home runs, including two from Max Muncy, who began his night with an opposite field two-run blast in the first inning. He continued swinging a hot bat in the fourth, adding a three-run homer that gave the Dodgers a commanding 7-0 lead.
As the game progressed, Muncy received MVP chants on a few occasions from the Dodger Stadium faithful. “That’s probably one of the cooler moments I’ve ever had in my career. It was kind of wild,” Muncy said.
“I had to hold back a smile while I was in the batter’s box.”
While Muncy appreciated the MVP chants from Dodgers fans, he is more focused on helping the club advance to the postseason for a ninth consecutive season and defend its World Series title.
“The most important thing to me is winning, getting this team back in the playoffs and helping us win another World Series,” Muncy said.
“If any awards come from that, that’s awesome. But that’s really all I’ve ever cared about since being over here with the Dodgers. That’s not going to change anytime soon. Whatever I can do to help the team win, that’s what I’m going to do.”
The 30-year-old is in the midst of a career year at the plate as he entered play Thursday batting a stellar .276/.408/.575 with 20 doubles, 28 home runs and 75 RBI over 434 plate appearances (104 games).
Muncy’s 4.9 FanGraphs’ WAR tops all qualified NL hitters, and his 15.9% walk rate is second to only Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals (20.1).
Roberts happy Muncy received MVP chants
When asked if he heard the MVP chants for Muncy, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed and believes they were justified. “It’s good. It’s great. Whenever fans recognize you as a potential MVP, you’ve got to be doing something right,” Roberts said.
“Very happy for him and just know that it’s noise, it’s positive, but you’ve still got to go out there and play defense, take good at-bats and help your team win. I heard it and I think Max might’ve got a little taste of that, so it’s pretty cool.”
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