6 days Ago By Oscar Maung-Haley
Los Angeles Dodgers star Max Muncy opted to shelve the torpedo bat to score a game-tying double to help the reigning MLB World Series champions record a comeback win against the Atlanta Braves . The Dodgers fought back to beat the Braves 6-5 on what was a historic night for Los Angeles, who moved to 8-0 on the season, the first time they have done so since 1955. And the win over Atlanta means the Dodgers are the only reigning champions in MLB history to start out a season 8-0.
But while Shohei Ohtani delivered the game-winning walk-off home run at Dodger Stadium, Muncy played a huge part in helping Los Angeles recover against the Braves to preserve their perfect record - by shelving the torpedo bat . Los Angeles found themselves 5-0 down but managed to tie things up in the 8th thanks to Muncy. The Dodgers star had opted to use the torpedo bat in the early innings against Atlanta, only to go 0-for-3 using it.
However, later on in the contest, he made a switch, reverting back to what he was accustom to. Muncy switched back to a regular bat and immediately hit a game-tying double, which set up his Ohtani for the walk-off finisher. Speaking after the game, Muncy admitted he thought to himself whilst watching Ohtani that he knew his teammate was "going to end this right here.
" And he also explained his reasoning for switching bats from the torpedo bat to his regular bat. "This season hadn't been off to the best start for me and the start of this game was pretty rough," explained Muncy to reporters after the game. "Starting with that bat, it felt good, swing felt good, but after the Dylan Lee at-bat, I felt like the bat was causing me to be a little bit off-putting, a little bit in and out of the zone because my swings felt really, really good tonight, but maybe just a bit off.
It was the last at-bat I just decided to back to my regular at-bat. Fortunately, I did not throw it." He continued, via ESPN : "It feels like this clubhouse is carrying a little bit of the attitude we had last year that we're never out of a game and we're resilient, and we've been carrying it into this season.
It's been fun to watch. The guys don't give up. "Bad things have happened, and no one's really been down or out on themselves.
Everyone's just, 'All right, here we go, next inning, let's get after it.' The whole team, top to bottom, has been doing that. It's been making it really, really fun to play.
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