MILWAUKEE (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Max Muncy is cautiously optimistic that he avoided a serious injury after a pitch hit him in the right wrist Friday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said initial X-rays were negative after Muncy left the game in the eighth inning. Roberts said Muncy still is expected to miss the rest of the Dodgers’ three-game series in Milwaukee.
“I’m not feeling great right now, but it’s a relief,” Muncy said after the Dodgers’ 5-1 loss. “We’ve just got to monitor the next couple of days. Typically, especially in that area, the X-rays never come back positive immediately. It kind of forms a little bit.”
Muncy was wearing some padding around his wrist when he got hit by a 95.5-mph sinker from Aaron Ashby. Muncy could be heard yelling in pain on the game telecast as soon as the pitch hit him.
“I’m pretty sure it hit half my wrist pad and half my wrist. … That’s kind of what I was feeling,” Muncy said. “Me deciding to wear that wrist guard the last couple of years might have saved my wrist, at least tonight.”
The 35-year-old Muncy is accustomed to dealing with these types of situations. Muncy said pitches have hit each of his wrists during his career. He missed time with a right wrist fracture after getting hit by a pitch in 2019.
“I’ve been hit in that spot before and I’ve broken that spot before,” Muncy said. “The biggest thing I always took with me from that was just the nauseous feeling you get, and I didn’t quite have that tonight. That’s why I’m feeling optimistic about it.”
Muncy is batting .258 with a .363 on-base percentage, .515 slugging percentage, 12 homers and 19 RBIs in 48 games this season.
He has homered 221 times since joining the Dodgers in 2018. The only players who have more career homers as Los Angeles Dodgers are Eric Karros (270) and Ron Cey (228).
Santiago Espinal pinch-ran for Muncy in the eighth inning and will fill in for him at third base Saturday. The Dodgers are hopeful that Muncy’s absence from the lineup won’t last longer than a couple of days.
“I think it got enough of that pad to protect it,” Roberts said. “He’ll be down for the next couple of days just to make sure we get that swelling out, but I think right now we’re breathing a sigh of relief.”
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