PHOENIX — Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy left the series finale Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks after a collision at first base in the top of the fifth inning at Chase Field.
Muncy hit a ground ball up the first-base line, and Diamondbacks first baseman Ildemaro Vargas fielded it behind the bag. From there, it was a footrace, in what was going to be a close play.
They reached the base at about the same time, both running hard. The collision sent them both sprawling. Muncy’s helmet and glasses went flying. Vargas dropped the ball.
Both were slow to get up. And after athletic trainers for their respective teams conducted on-field examinations, both walked to their dugouts.
Because Muncy was called safe on the play, utility player Santiago Espinal replaced him as a pinch runner. The Dodgers did not immediately announce an injury update.
Ohtani dealing with blister
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who had a planned day off Thursday, has been dealing with a small blister on the middle finger of his right hand for his last couple starts, manager Dave Roberts said.
“I don’t expect it to affect him going forward,” Roberts said a day after Ohtani held the Diamondbacks to two hits in six scoreless innings. “Even [Wednesday], if we wouldn’t have tacked on, he would’ve stayed in there.”
Roberts pulled Ohtani after the Dodgers pulled out to a seven-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.
Roberts also said he didn’t believe the blister affected Ohtani’s command last week, when he threw six hitless innings against the Rockies but issued four walks and hit a batter.
“When his command has been off, I think it’s a bigger thing than just a blister,” Roberts said. “Because it’s a small blister. That’s just when his mechanics are out of whack.”
The post Dodgers’ Max Muncy involved in huge collision with Arizona’s Ildemaro Vargas appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
