Max Muncy’s three home runs highlight Dodgers’ rout of Braves
LOS ANGELES — At one point during the Dodgers’ desultory last homestand in April, Dave Roberts kvetched that he couldn’t remember the most recent time the Dodgers had played a complete game.
His memory is getting refreshed on a regular basis these days.
Max Muncy homered three times and Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages added one each to back Tyler Glasnow’s latest strong start as the Dodgers routed the Atlanta Braves 11-2 Saturday night.
The win was the Dodgers’ second in a row over the Braves this weekend and their 10th in their past 12 games overall.
“I do remember what they look like now. Our guys have done a good job of showing me what a complete baseball game looks like,” Roberts said Saturday. “Looking back at that last homestand, it just wasn’t good. It wasn’t good enough, and our guys realize that, and we won that last game, and from there, we just took off through the road trip and carried over into this homestand.
“It’s fun to watch. It really is. You see the energy on the bench. You see the intensity on the field, and then in the batter’s box you see the focus. So then to put all that with a lot of talent, it’s winning baseball.”
During this dozen-game run, the Dodgers have looked like the complete team Roberts (and the front office) thought they had.
They have outscored their opponents 78-24. Eight times in the 12 games their pitching has allowed two runs or fewer. Six times the offense has put up eight or more runs. Four times they reached double digits.
“We went through a little rough stretch for a homestand there, but it’s baseball,” Muncy said after the first three-homer game of his career. “It’s just one of those things where you have ups and downs. We’re going to have some downs later in the year also. But you’ve just got to find a way to ride it out and know this is who we are as a team, for the most part.”
The Dodgers offense went clubbing against Braves starter Bryce Elder, chasing him from the game with seven runs in the first four innings.
Muncy started it with his first home run, a two-run drive in the second inning.
Ohtani led off the third inning with his eighth home run of the season, passing Roberts for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player in franchise history.
“Relieved,” Ohtani said in Japanese of his feelings about passing Roberts.
The homer also continued to make good on an offseason promise.
As the Dodgers were acquiring Glasnow from the Tampa Bay Rays and negotiating what would eventually be a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension, Glasnow said he got a video recruiting pitch from Ohtani during which the two-time MVP said he “hopes to hit some home runs for me.”
Saturday was the third time in Glasnow’s first eight starts that Ohtani has made hope a homer reality.
“It’s awesome,” Glasnow said of the offensive support. “It’s definitely special to be a pitcher and have offense. I think every game I’ve pitched it feels like (the Dodgers have scored) 10 runs or something. It’s definitely a good feeling.”
Pages, meanwhile, has been fulfilling his own promise since being promoted from Triple-A. He led off the fourth inning with his fourth home run in 16 games and extended his hitting streak to 10 games, adding a single later in the game for his sixth multi-hit game since arriving.
Just for good measure, Pages added a nice running catch on Marcell Ozuna’s drive into the corner to end the eighth inning.
Walks got Elder in deeper trouble in that fourth inning and three consecutive singles from Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith made it a four-run inning.
Ohtani and Freeman each had three-hit games with Ohtani starting to put his struggles with runners in scoring position behind him. He came through with a game-tying RBI single in the 10th inning Friday and followed up with an RBI single in the four-run fourth Saturday, one to the opposite field and one through the middle.
“I haven’t consciously made any major adjustments or approach changes,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “But the pitches that I’m getting are making me hit to those directions.”
Muncy made his a four-hit, three-homer game by going deep in the seventh off lefty reliever Tyler Matzek and again in the eighth off right-hander Jackson Stephens.
It was the first three-home run game by a Dodger since Trayce Thompson on April 1 last season.
“I’ve felt good at the plate last couple weeks,” Muncy said. “I know the results aren’t always there but I feel like I’ve put together some decent at-bats and sometimes you get tough pitches. Tonight I feel like I was able to just get the barrel to the ball a little bit better.”
That was more than enough for Glasnow who held the Braves to two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out 10 in seven innings.
It was the third time in his past five starts that Glasnow has gone at least seven innings, the fourth time in that stretch he has struck out at least nine and the sixth time in his eight starts as a Dodger that he has allowed two runs or fewer. He continues to lead the majors in wins (six), innings (50) and strikeouts (63), tacking a 2.70 ERA alongside those stats.
“It’s great,” Glasnow said of his stat pack. “(I’m just) trying to piece them all together and have good start after good start. It’s the only thing I’m focused on. I think a lot of the other stuff that comes with it is awesome, but I think for the most part, I’m just trying to pitch well every time I get the ball and I think all that stuff will follow.”