LOS ANGELES -- None of his current teammates have spent more continuous time wearing Dodger blue than Max Muncy -- and only five former Dodgers can say they've outhomered him in that jersey.
Muncy continued his steady ascent up the home run leaderboard by going deep three times -- including a walk-off blast -- in a series-opening 8-7 win over the Rangers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, helping the Dodgers become the first MLB team to 10 wins.
Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Muncy is the second Dodger with a three-homer game, including a walk-off shot, joining Don Demeter on April 21, 1959. He is the first Major Leaguer to have such a game since Jack Suwinski -- who is currently in the organization with Triple-A Oklahoma City -- on June 19, 2022.
"It's just special," Muncy said of his second career three-homer game. "Any time you hit a home run in a big league game is special, let alone three. … I still think about the first time I did it, so it's just a special night, and to get the win on top of it was great."
Muncy, who's the longest-tenured Dodger and the postseason home run leader, reached 213 career homers with L.A., passing Steve Garvey for sole possession of sixth place in franchise history.
Only two Dodgers have hit more homers than Muncy since the franchise moved to L.A. in 1958: Eric Karros and Ron Cey.
Dodgers' all-time home run leaders:
- Duke Snider, 389
- Gil Hodges, 361
- Eric Karros, 270
- Roy Campanella, 242
- Ron Cey, 228
- Max Muncy, 213
"Garvey is one of those guys that is just kind of a Dodger icon," Muncy said. "The way he carried himself, the way he played the game, just a model of consistency. … To pass him, it's something that's really, really special to me. It means a lot. And hopefully I can keep climbing."
In his first at-bat, Muncy got an elevated 2-1 cutter from Rangers right-hander Kumar Rocker and pulled it a Statcast-projected 399 feet to right field to open the scoring in the second inning. His second homer of the season brought him into a tie with Garvey.
The next time he stepped to the plate, Muncy didn't need to see anything other than the first-pitch sinker that Rocker left over the middle of the plate in the fourth inning. Muncy drove that one the other way, launching it a projected 396 feet to left-center. That gave him the 20th multihomer game of his career.
"I've always said when I can drive the ball to left-center," Muncy said, "that's when my swing is at my best."
Muncy waited until his final at-bat to pull off the home run hat trick after closer Edwin Díaz blew his first save as a Dodger, erasing a three-run lead in the top of the ninth. Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz had not given up a hit this season, but Muncy changed that by slugging an 0-2 slider into the seats in right-center to walk it off for L.A.
"You can't go up there with the home run in your head, even though it's hard not to in that situation," Muncy said. "But I just tried to put together a good at-bat."
All told, Muncy reached base five times in the sixth four-hit game of his career. Fittingly, Muncy hit another trio of homers on the night that the Dodgers gave away a bobblehead commemorating Shohei Ohtani's masterful two-way performance in Game 4 of last year's NL Championship Series -- in which he hit three home runs.
Muncy became the first player in MLB history to have a game with five-plus runs, four-plus hits, three-plus homers and a walk-off home run. He had been off to a slower start this season, although it was nowhere near the career-long homerless drought he endured to begin last year. Entering Friday, Muncy was hitting 8-for-37 (.216) with only one extra-base hit and RBI.
In past years, manager Dave Roberts would have seen nerves from Muncy with those numbers. But an offseason in which the veteran third baseman worked on his physique and signed an extension through at least 2027 seems to have done wonders, both physically and mentally.
"I think it's just maturity and trust in the process," Roberts said. "He knows that we believe in him, and we've showed that many times over. I think that there's some peace with that. That's kind of the thought behind what Andrew [Friedman] and [Brandon Gomes] did to free his mind up and just let him play baseball. That's kind of really played out."