The Los Angeles Dodgers walked into Yankee Stadium on Friday night in a rut. They had lost five of their last seven games, three in a row. So when Gerrit Cole held them scoreless through six innings, it looked like the losing streak was about to hit four.
Then came the seventh. Max Muncy stepped in with a runner on base and went to work.
Cole had been painting corners all night. He was mixing his fastball with that devastating slider, and Muncy had already whiffed on it twice. But this at-bat stretched to seven pitches. Muncy kept fouling off tough ones, waiting for something in the zone. On pitch seven, Cole left a slider over the plate and Muncy crushed it. The home run turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. That was the ballgame.
“Just trying to get something up in the zone,” Muncy said afterward, via SportsNet LA. “He was locating really well tonight. Thought I missed the slider in my first two at-bats. He finally left one over the plate, and I was able to put it where I wanted. Swing felt great, result felt better, and it gave us a chance to win.”
Breaking the slump before it got worse
The Dodgers are still comfortably in the playoff picture. Nobody is panicking. But confidence in a clubhouse is a fragile thing. Dropping a series opener against the Yankees on national TV after a tough stretch could have sent things sideways. Instead, Muncy swung them back in the right direction.
That’s the kind of win that resets the energy. It doesn’t mean the slump is over forever. But in a 162-game grind, sometimes you just need one swing to remind everybody what they’re capable of.
Cole deserved a better fate. He allowed just two hits through six innings, struck out nine, and looked every bit like the ace the Yankees pay him to be. He made one real mistake all night. Muncy made him pay for it.
These two teams are back at it Saturday for the rubber match. The Yankees will get their chance to respond. But for one night in the Bronx, the Dodgers got exactly what they needed out of their veteran slugger.
Leave a Comment