Max Muncy enjoyed chants across the baseball diamond, fans erupted with MVP chants as they all cheered for the most powerful hitter of the night.
Muncy recorded two home runs and brought in five runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers which led to a dominant 9-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of a sellout crowd on Wednesday at Dodgers Stadium.
The win gave the Dodgers (75-46) their sixth win in a row and moved within three games of the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants.
“That’s probably one of the cooler moments of my career. Kinda wild,” said Muncy on the MVP chants. “I had to hold back a smile while I was in the batter’s box.”
Muncy has been in a solid groove of late, having five homers in his last three games, and 28 on the year.
“There’s no ebbs and flows, he’s very consistent in getting on base, driving in runs and slugging,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “Now there’s that MVP talk, and it’s well deserved.”
Los Angeles completed the 3-0 series sweep over the Pirates (42-79), beating them for the 16th straight time, extending its franchise record.
The Pirates have now lost 5 in a row and 9 of their last 10 games.
“When you get behind, and we don’t score a lot of runs anyway, it gets very frustrating,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “It takes us out of our ability to be aggressive.”
AJ Pollock and Corey Seager both homered as well for LA, as the game was never once in doubt for the defending champions.
Muncy sent a two-run shot past Pirates RHP JT Brubaker in the first inning, while Seager added an RBI single to the right-field line to take an early 3-0 lead.
Pollock captured his 15th homer in the second and Muncy responded again in the fourth, jumping out to a commanding 7-0 advantage after crushing a three-run shot to right.
Justin Bruihl pitched 1 2/3 innings for the Dodgers before RHP Mitch White stole the show allowing only two hits in 7 1/3 innings. White went on to finish with six strikeouts and two walks on the night.
Pittsburgh walked seven batters and Seager added a two-run homer off Kyle Keller in the sixth.
“Everyone bought in tonight and it was a full team effort. Most importantly, Mitch was amazing,” said Muncy.
“This is something he’ll remember for a long time…he looked like a big-league pitcher who was in command and polished,” Roberts said.
Whites’ ability to produce multi productive innings was on display and gave the bullpen a night off.
“That’s a huge thing for me is trying to be an innings-eater…do whatever I can to save the bullpen,” White said.
Los Angeles next will host the New York Mets for a four-game set Thursday through Sunday at Dodgers Stadium.
