Max Muncy’s Long Home Run Into River, Bat Flip, Irks Giants Pitcher Madison Bumgarner

“I told him: `If you don’t want me to watch the ball you can go in the ocean and get it,”’ Muncy said. “Honestly, I thought it was probably one of my tamer bat-flips that I’ve ever done. I didn’t actually think it was anything outrageous. I took one or two steps out of the box, started jogging, and that was really all it was.”

This is the message that Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Max Muncy delivered during the Dodgers 1-0 win over the San Francisco Giants Sunday in his postgame interview. Muncy hammered a 92 mph fastball left over the plate from Madison Bumgarner over the wall and into McCovey Cove behind the stadium. Muncy then took his time to watch the ball fly out of the stadium before trotting slowly around the basepaths, much to the unhappiness of Bumgarner.

“He just struck a pose and walked further than I liked,” Bumgarner said. “They want to let everybody be themselves. Let me be myself, Bumgarner said. I just as soon fight than walk or whatever. Just do your thing, I’ll do mine.”

“It was kind of an old-school baseball game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You get two No. 1’s going head to head. We saw the best of Madison Bumgarner and matched Walker pitch for pitch. Fortunately for us, we scored one more than they did.”

This game was the first 1-0 loss for the Giants at Oracle Park since 2015. Ironically, the starting pitcher for the Giants in that game was also Bumgarner. The Giants offense continues to prove to be lackadaisical this season, now sitting at just 2 for 27 in their last five games with runners in scoring position.

For the Dodgers, this win did not but continue to strengthen their stranglehold of a lead on the NL West this season. The Dodgers now lead the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks, the two teams tied for second in their division, by 11 games in just the second week of June.

Article by Jason Hirsch