Andy Pages’ big night was nearly wasted by Edwin Díaz’s first blown save as the Dodgers closer.
Instead, it all set up Max Muncy for some walk-off heroics.
In an 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night, Muncy hit three home runs. The first opened the scoring. The second chipped away at a mid-game deficit. The last became the most memorable early moment of the Dodgers’ hot start to this season.
After the Dodgers had built a three-run lead on the back of Pages’ 3-for-3, four-RBI showing, then squandered it when Díaz allowed three runs in a stunning ninth-inning collapse, Muncy came up in the bottom half of the inning and saved the day with one swing –– blasting a solo drive deep to right field for a walk-off win.
The game shouldn’t have required such dramatics, of course.
When Díaz entered in the ninth, the victory seemed well at hand.
But then, a nightmarish inning began when Joc Pederson had a strikeout overturned via ABS challenge and later singled.
Evan Carter followed that with a two-run homer, trimming the three-run Dodgers lead down to one. Then, with two outs, Josh Jung singled, stole second and scored on Ezquiel Duran’s game-tying base hit to left field.
All the work the Dodgers (10-3) had done to erase the early 3-1 hole Corey Seager had put them in with a three-run blast in the third inning was gone.
All the highlights Pages had amassed in his latest masterpiece performance were on the verge of becoming a waste.
Alas, with two outs in the ninth, Muncy came up against Rangers left-hander Jakob Latz, timed up an 0-2 slider that stayed up and over the plate, then strolled out of the box as his game-winning homer sailed into the night.
