Dodgers News: Max Muncy Explains Baserunning Blunder vs Padres

Max Muncy only made it to first base on what should have been a double, and it cost the Dodgers. After the game, Muncy explained what happened on the play.

In the bottom of the sixth inning in last night's NLDS Game 2, the Dodgers let a prime scoring opportunity when, with runners on first and third and no outs, Justin Turner struck out and Gavin Lux hit into a double play.

But in reality, the groundwork for the fizzle was laid the batter before Turner, when Max Muncy hit what should have been a double off the wall in right field. When the dust settled from the play, Will Smith had gone from first to third on the hit, but Muncy was standing on first base.

After the game, Muncy explained what happened on the play:

Max Muncy on the Juan Soto deke: said he thought Soto would catch it, then saw Will Smith in front of him. When Smith headed to third, it was too late for him to make a move to second – didn't want to make an out on the bases. pic.twitter.com/UwI3fG36wW

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) October 13, 2022

It would have been nice to get some replays from a higher angle to see where everyone was when the ball dropped, but the FS1 crew seemed remarkably uninterested in the fact that the guy who just hit a double somehow didn't end up on second base. So all we have to go on at this point is Muncy's comment, which we can pretty much take at face value.

Down by a run with no outs, my personal preference would be aggressiveness on the bases, because having two runners in scoring position with no outs really changes the situation. As it turned out, it ended up being a very big deal that Muncy was on first, because Gavin Lux's grounder wouldn't have been an inning-ending double play with Muncy on second. There's no way to know what would have happened, because San Diego's defense would have played differently and their pitcher would have pitched differently, but it's probably not controversial to say your chances of a big inning are better with two runners in scoring position than one.

Add that to the list of things that went wrong with the Dodgers last night.