Walk it off, Max! Muncy blasts the Dodgers to victory to head into break

LOS ANGELES — Never a doubt in my mind! After falling behind 4-1 to the lowly Diamondbacks on Sunday, the Dodgers staged an epic comeback on this last game before the All-Star break. They got three runs in the eighth to tie it, and then Max Muncy hit a mammoth 3-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to walk it off and send the Dodgers to Colorado in a very, very good mood.

Gonsolin a little shaky, but goes four

Tony Gonsolin got the ball on hot Sunday afternoon at Chavez Ravine. Though he looked much sharper in his previous start, he did manage to navigate through four innings of work only surrendering a solo home run to Steven Vogt in the top of the fourth inning. But, Goose’s pitch count was pretty elevated and he was missing a lot of his targets, so manager Dave Roberts decided to hand it over to the bullpen for the rest of the game.

Betts leads off the first with a homer

For a minute in the first inning, though, it looked like the Dodgers were going to pick right up where they left off on Saturday night. Mookie Betts, who is suddenly red hot himself, took a cutter from starter Merrill Kelly and went big fly, dropping a lead-off home run into the right field seats. But that was all the Dodgers would get in the first, and in fact, they would not score anything for the next six innings.

D’backs come back in middle innings

Instead, it was the D’back who would nick the Dodgers’ pen for three runs in the interim. They got one run off rookie Darien Nunez on a double and a run-scoring single from light-hitting Josh VanMeter in the top of the fifth. Then in the Daulton Varsho smacked a two-run home run off Scott Alexander, who was oddly ineffective against the lefties in the Arizona batting order.

Dodgers tie it up in the eighth

With the Dodgers now trailing by three going into the eighth, you could feel a little of the energy drain out of the Dodger Stadium crowd. And, most likely, the annoyed tweets from disgruntled fans were loaded and ready to send. But the Dodgers had other plans. They started their eighth inning rally innocently enough, with a Zach McKinstry walk. Then, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy followed up with back-to-back singles to load up the bases. Then, the Dodgers were able to crawl back into the game with a couple of cheap runs.

First, Justin Turner hit a long flyball to right field that looked like it might have a chance at being his second grand slam of the weekend. But then Josh Reddick got under it and it looked like he might make a catch at the wall for a sac fly. Neither thing happened. Reddick, aka the cheater, gacked the catch and the ball dropped on the warning track dirt. It was inexplicably scored a single, but whatever, it was the Dodgers’ second run of the game.

Taylor with the key hit in eighth inning

Then, after a Bellinger K, Will Smith got grazed by a pitch from reliever Noe Ramirez to score another run without the benefit of a hit. All-Star Chris Taylor came up and ripped a nice single to center to tie up the game. Unfortunately, Will Smith ran himself into an out, and the threat was extinguished shortly thereafter. But still, three runs across meant that the game went into the ninth inning all tied up at 4-4. Kenley Jansen came in in the top of the ninth and shut down the D-backs. He gave up a two-out single, but there wasn’t any real threat mounted in the inning.

Albert, the legend

Time for a walk-off? Sure, why not. Albert Pujols started it off with a single up the middle of new Snakes reliever JB Bukauskas. Though the Dodgers were focused on winning the game at that moment, it ought to be mentioned that that knock put Tio Albert into a tie with Willie Mays for eleventh on the all-time hit leaderboard.

Max, the hero

Milestones are all well and good, but they don’t win ball games. The Boys in Blue still had a game to win. Hitting in the nine hole, Zach McKinstry laid down a sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner Zach Reks into scoring position with one out. Mookie Betts strode to the plate already with three hits on the day. When Bukauskas fell behind Mookie 3-1, the D’backs decided to give Betts an intentional pass to put a double play in order.

Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks (and the rest of the National League), if you walk Mookie Betts, you get the “privilege” of pitching to Max Muncy. Muncy fouled off the first pitch, but then watched a couple of change-ups miss to get ahead in the count 2-1. And then, for some unknown reason, Bukauskas thought he could sneak a fastball by Max Muncy, one of the best dead-red hitters in the game. Muncy gave the pitch a mighty swat and it sailed deep into walk-off land. Game. Over. 7-3 Dodgers. It was an awesome comeback, and a great way to go into the All-Star break.

All-Star game on Tuesday, and then…

The Dodgers are now 56-35, two games behind the San Francisco Giants. They now have four days off to rest and recuperate, and then the second half of the season will begin in Denver on Friday night for a weekend series against the Rockies. With less than seventy games to go, the Dodgers are on a pace to win around 100 games this year. With all that has happened in this crazy season, they are in a very good spot to make a run for another pennant, and maybe, just maybe another World Series title. Watch this site for the latest in Dodger news for the rest of the year. And, tune in to the All-Star game on Tuesday to watch Justin, Chris, Walker, and of course Max represent the best baseball team in the world.