LOS ANGELES — Max Muncy capped his historic night in dramatic fashion.
Muncy blasted his third home run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Dodgers to an 8-7 victory over the Texas Rangers after Edwin Diaz blew his first save on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
Muncy finished with four hits overall, and Andy Pages contributed a two-run double and a two-run homer for the Dodgers (10-3), who have won six of their past seven games.
“It’s just special,” Muncy said. “Anytime you hit a home run in a big league game, it’s special. Let alone three. So, it’s the second time I’ve done that. I still think about the first time I did it. It’s just a special night, and to get the win on top of it, it’s great.”
The three homers gives Muncy 213 with the Dodgers, moving him past Steve Garvey for third-most in the franchise’s Los Angeles era history. Eric Karros tops that list at 270 followed by Ron Cey at 228.
“Garvey is one of those guys that is kind of a Dodger icon,” Muncy said. “The way he carried himself, the way he played the game. Just the model of consistency. … He really embodied what being a Dodger was, so to pass him is something that’s really, really special to me and it means a lot. Hopefully, I can keep climbing.”
Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow navigated through six innings in the opener of the three-game series, allowing four runs and five hits, including two home runs. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one on 100 pitches.
After the Rangers walked the leadoff batter for the second consecutive inning in the sixth, Pages came up with runners on first and second with one out and grounded an opposite-field double into the right-field corner to score both runners and give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead.
Pages had gone 0 for 4 with four strikeouts in the previous game, a 4-3 loss at the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday that ended a five-game winning streak.
“You just can’t say enough about what Andy has done,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “If you look at all of baseball to see how many times he’s hit balls from line to line, he’s got to be No. 1 in that category. If it’s velocity, if it’s spin, if it’s a right-hander, if it’s a left-hander, he has a different type of club to attack any pitch, so that’s special.”
After giving the Dodgers the lead, Pages provided some insurance with his two-run homer into the left field seats in the eighth to make it 7-4.
Alex Vesia pitched the seventh for the Dodgers, striking out the side with a walk in between, and Tanner Scott retired the side in order in the eighth.
Diaz (1-0) was asked to protect a three-run lead in the ninth, but the closer surrendered a two-run homer to Evan Carter.
He got the next two outs, but then gave up another single, followed by an intentional walk and an RBI single to Ezequiel Durán that tied it 7-7.
“Obviously Eddie wasn’t sharp today,” Roberts said. “That’s going to happen, but for us to come out and find a way to win speaks a lot to the team offense and tonight, essentially, was a contribution from everyone.”
Muncy was hitless in his previous 10 at-bats with four strikeouts when he stepped to the plate with one out in the second. Rangers starter Kumar Rocker left a cutter at the top of the strike zone and Muncy lined it into the seats in right-center field for a 1-0 lead.
“Even in Toronto, when he wasn’t getting hits, he was telling me numerous times that he’s close,” Roberts said of Muncy. “I think in years past, you see a spike and then some anxiousness with him. Where now, he’s in a place where he’s really confident and trusts the process, and knows that if he’s in a good place and he’s not getting good results, to kind of stay the course and tonight showed the results.”
Glasnow recorded three strikeouts on offspeed pitches through the first two innings, but needed 36 pitches to get the first six outs.
Josh Smith led off the third with an opposite-field line drive that landed just inside the left-field line. Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez played the carom off the wall in foul territory to hold Smith to a single.
That briefly proved important after Brandon Nimmo hit a grounder just under the backhanded reach of second baseman Alex Freeland and into right-center, putting runners on the corners with one out, but after getting the second out of the inning, former Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager crushed a 3-and-2 fastball into the seats in left-center field for a three-run homer and a 3-1 lead.
Seager clubbed 104 home runs while playing for the Dodgers from 2015-21, including 26 in the 2016 season, the most by a Dodgers shortstop in one season.
Rocker retired six in a row before Muncy came up again in the fourth and lined the first pitch over the fence in left center to cut it to 3-2.
“When I can drive the ball to left-center, that’s when my swing is at its best,” Muncy said.
Glasnow retired the first two batters in the fifth before Wyatt Langford pulled a two-strike curveball just over the bullpen fence in left for a solo home run that re-established the two-run lead at 4-2.
The Dodgers got the run back with a sacrifice fly in their half of the fifth to cut it to 4-3, and they had Rocker on the ropes after loading the bases with one in the inning, but Will Smith grounded into an inning-ending double play.