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The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a key injury in their Wednesday night victory over the Chicago White Sox. They lost 3rd baseman Max Muncy to a severe bone bruise on his knee after a collision with Michael A. Taylor on stolen base attempt. A further examination of the injury revealed that Muncy did not suffer a major tear and that he should be able to return to manager Dave Roberts' lineup in six weeks.
As a result of the injury, Roberts is going to have to shuffle his lineup and figure out who is going to play 3rd base while Muncy is out of action. The manager said that he was going to have Tommy Edman start taking some ground balls at 3rd base. Edman has played both 2nd base and centerfield this season.
Roberts could have moved Hye Seong Kim to 3rd base, but he is more likely to leave him at 2nd base. Edman is a versatile performer who has also played shortstop in his career. He is hitting .244 with 10 home runs and 38 runs batted in this season.
Muncy was relieved to learn the injury was not more serious because he was in significant pain after the collision with Taylor. He had to be helped off the field and he could not put any pressure on his left leg.
“It was obviously amazing hearing the news that nothing was torn, nothing was ripped,” said Muncy. “That was obviously a huge sigh of relief for me, but it still sounds like too long of a time in my head.”
Dodgers have taken control of National League West
While the Muncy injury is not good news for the Dodgers, the team has been playing excellent baseball and has built a sizable lead in the National League West.
Earlier in the year, the Dodgers were trying to hold off the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. However, the Dodgers have won 14 of their last 17 games and they are now 8.5 games in front of the second-place Padres and 9.0 games ahead of the third-place Giants.
Muncy thought the injury might distract Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw and keep him from getting his 3,000th career strikeout. However, Kershaw dropped in a breaking ball moments after the injury to Vinny Capra, and the result was a called third strike and the 3,000th strikeout of his career.
Kershaw received a huge ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd, and Muncy was relieved that the hurler had reached that level.
Muncy is on the Injured List, and the Dodgers brought up outfielder Esteury Ruiz from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Ruiz is hitting .292 with eight homers, 37 RBIs and 38 stolen bases in 66 games.
