The initial X-rays came back negative, but Muncy admitted he was still in pain after getting hit by a 95.5 mph sinker from reliever Aaron Ashby. Muncy had his wrist wrapped with ice in the clubhouse after the game and is not expected to play on Saturday or Sunday.
“Not feeling great right now, but it is a relief,” Muncy said. “We just got to monitor it the next couple days. Typically, especially in that area, the X-rays never come back positive immediately. It kind of forms a little bit. But I’m pretty sure it hit half my wrist pad and half my wrist. I think me deciding to wear that wrist guard the last couple years might have saved my wrist, at least tonight.”
Back in 2019, Muncy suffered a fractured right wrist after getting hit by a pitch from Matt Strahm that wasn’t initially caught on the first X-ray. However, he believes this felt different from his previous injury.
“It hurt really, really bad. In that moment, you’re trying to figure out what you can feel, trying to assess how bad you think it is,” Muncy said. “For me, I think we escaped the worst because I’ve been hit in that spot before and I’ve broken that spot before. The biggest thing I always took with me from that was just the nauseous feeling that you get and I didn’t quite have that tonight. That’s why I’m feeling pretty optimistic about it.”
Muncy was taken out of the game immediately by manager Dave Roberts after he and a trainer met Muncy halfway down the first-base line. Muncy went down in a crouch while testing his wrist before exiting the game during a pitching change.
Roberts said that Santiago Espinal, who replaced Muncy and played third base for the remainder of the game, will play third again on Saturday with Miguel Rojas slotting in at second base.
If Muncy only misses limited time, it would be a big break for the Dodgers. He leads Los Angeles with 12 homers and a .515 slugging percentage. The 11-year veteran has been a big piece in the middle of a Dodger lineup that has really started to heat up in May.
“I think it got enough of that pad to protect it,” Roberts said of Muncy’s injury. “He’ll be down for the next couple days just to make sure we get that swelling out, but I think right now, we are breathing a sigh of relief.”