Mad Max the Road Warrior Makes Appearance Against Cubs

Mad Max the Road Warrior Makes Appearance Against Cubs – Recap: May 3-9

The Dodgers finished out a horrible road trip this week, though Mad Max the Road Warrior finally made an appearance in Chicago with two blasts from Muncy.  Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to keep them from losing their fourth and fifth series in a row this season.

Max Muncy vs the Cubs

May 4 – Doubleheader, Flashes Leather

In the second inning, Muncy let a first pitch meatball sail right past him for a strike.  Still, he claimed first on a hit-by-pitch from Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks.  He moved over to second on a ground ball single from Lux, beating out shortstop Javier Báez with speed and a good jump from first.  Alas, he and Lux both were left on base when Austin Barnes struck out.  He struck out twice more in the shortened seven inning game that the Dodgers lost 1-7.

For the second game , Muncy flashed some leather at first by definitely saving a run to throw out Rizzo at home during a well-chosen fielder’s choice.  He homered in the top of the seventh off of Craig Kimbrel to tie the game at 1-1.  The Dodgers lose in extras (well, extras for a 7-inning doubleheader) to the Cubs 3-4.

May 5 – Mad Max The Road Warrior Makes an Appearance

Muncy clobbered another home run against the Cubs in the fourth inning to put the Dodgers ahead 1-0, but the Dodgers still went into extra innings again.  He was the ghost runner in the 11th inning, coming around to score on a Matt Beaty ground out to put the Dodgers up 5-4.  But the exhausted bullpen couldn’t hold on to the lead, so the Cubs walked it off 5-6

May 6 – Travel Day

Max Muncy vs. Angels

May 7 –  The Wrong Kind of Cycle

Back in the cleanup spot, Max didn’t do much cleaning this game.  In fact, he hit for the wrong kind of cycle, getting a strikeout, flyout, pop out, and a ground out in four at-bats.

May 8 – The Bats Light Up

For this game, Muncy and the rest of the Dodger bats were on fire behind Kershaw’s arm.  In fact, Muncy was in the batter’s box for the, ah, tag on Mookie Betts that might have just been the Dodgers’ good luck charm.  It certainly lightened up the mood. A smiling Max hit an RBI single that let Mookie walk gently home and started an eight run rally in the fourth.  Muncy came in to score on a two-run double from Matt Beaty.

For his second at-bat of the inning, Muncy earned a four pitch walk from reliever Steve Cishek to load the bases for Will Smith.  Smith grounded into a force out to end the inning, but not before the Dodgers scored eight runs in the fourth inning.

In the fifth, Max worked a six pitch walk with two outs to load the bases.  He moved over to second on a Will Smith two-run single.  Though he was left on base, the Dodgers scored five more runs to make it 13-0.  Enter the very young, very tired bullpen who gave up four runs in the 6th and seven runs in the 7th.

Max tacked on an extra RBI, scoring DJ Peters for his first big league run (after his first big league hit!), but that would be it for the offense in the game.  The Dodger manage not to blow the lead entirely and hold on to a 14-11 win.

May 9 – Mother’s Day

Max earned two walks but was stranded each time.  He also ground out and struck out and the Dodgers lost 1-2.  Ouch.

In Review:

Look, Max is starting to warm up, but he still suffers from whatever funky mood is permeating the clubhouse right now.  On the plus side, two homers, multiple walks, and multiple RBIs. His OPS went up. On the negative side, he’s scraping at the Mendoza Line and the Dodgers just can’t seem to win.  Here’s to hoping he converts that funk into Funky Muncy and the Road Warrior makes another appearance again soon.

WEEKLY STATS:

BA: .219

OPS: .832

R: 4 (19)

Hits: 5 (23)

RBI: 5 (16)

AB: 20 (105)

BB: 5 (33)

IBB: 0 (4)

2B:  1 (3)

3B: 0 (1)

HR: 2 (5)

SB: 0 (0)

To read more about Max and his almost daily walking tours, click here.

For the latest Max Muncy stats, click here.

Photo Credit: Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images