Muncy slays Giants (again) with 2 homers, 7 RBIs

SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the great quotes attributed to U.S. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin goes as follows: "In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes."

Had Franklin miraculously lived to see the 21st century, he might have added a third item to the list: Max Muncy mashing at Oracle Park.

Muncy drove in a career-high seven runs to power the Dodgers to a 9-1 win over the Giants on Monday night, snapping the team's three-game losing streak. Ringing in this season's first edition of the historic Dodgers-Giants rivalry, Los Angeles picked up right where it left off in 2022 and won its eighth straight game in San Francisco.

The Dodgers finally got the thump they needed out of the cleanup spot, with all seven of Muncy's RBIs coming via the long ball. He crushed a three-run shot off Giants ace Logan Webb that dropped into the home bullpen in the third inning, then followed that up by launching his third career grand slam to the left-field bleachers in the seventh. Both of Muncy's round-trippers came with two outs.

"That was a back-breaker," manager Dave Roberts said, "because I think that these guys here, they're always in it. But that grand slam kind of put it out of reach, and for me, [Muncy] hitting the ball to left-center field and center field, that's more telling for me than a pull-side homer as well."

Muncy's second and third dingers of 2023 padded his already impressive stat line against San Francisco. In 73 games against the Giants, the 32-year-old infielder has hit 23 homers -- tied for the third-most among active players -- and knocked in 51 runs. Three of Muncy's 10 career multi-homer games have come against the Dodgers' archrivals.

While Muncy has recorded the bulk of his home runs and RBIs against the Giants at home, he's logged a 1.013 OPS in 36 games at Oracle Park.

"He’s certainly had his ups and downs, but he’s always dangerous," Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. "He can always take you deep. He can take you deep to the middle of the field. He can draw a walk. He’s especially patient. Really good overall hitter. It’s not going to surprise us to see him do damage."

After batting 4-for-33 to begin the season, Muncy tweaked his mechanics ahead of the series in San Francisco and re-added a step-back into his batting stance. He had made that same adjustment at the end of last season but opted to go without it this spring, believing that he could get better results that way.

Bringing back the step-back not only helped Muncy simplify his approach, but it also allowed him to get out of his own head.

"It was more about just getting a breath of fresh air, getting out of Arizona," Muncy said. "That's a team that, traditionally, I haven't really hit well against. … Getting eight games against them right out of the gate for me is not necessarily the best thing."

Muncy wasn't the only one happy to be moving on from Arizona. The Dodgers' pitching staff also rebounded Monday night after allowing double-digit runs to the D-backs on back-to-back days, giving up 31 runs in total over the four-game set.

Julio Urías, who earned his third win of the season in as many starts, proved to be the stopper the team needed. The 26-year-old southpaw allowed one run on four hits over six innings, striking out eight against two walks.

"It was my turn in the rotation to kind of stop the bleeding," Urías said in Spanish through team interpreter Juan Dorado. "Obviously we had tough games in Arizona, but I didn't put extra pressure on myself to go out there and do my job."

Like Muncy, Urías has produced an impressive body of work against the Giants, going 7-4 with a 2.09 ERA over 26 games. The Dodgers' ace may not have been feeling the heat, but Roberts suggested that Muncy may get a little more fired up than usual when facing their longtime rivals.

For his part, Muncy didn't outright deny that he enjoys these games.

"It's a lot of fun. Success in general is fun," Muncy said. "But I guess it does mean a little more when it's here."