The Red Sox and Dodgers underwent a thriller Saturday night that included plenty of fireworks at the plate, some of which resulted in a few Los Angeles ejections in Boston’s 8-5 victory at Fenway Park.
In the top of the eighth inning, as the Dodgers trailed 7-5 with the bases loaded and two outs, Los Angeles’ Max Muncy was questionably rung up on an 0-2 count when facing Boston’s Chris Martin.
That triggered Muncy, causing the 33-year-old to toss his bat and get ejected by home plate umpire Jordan Baker. And in hindsight, Muncy stood by his stance, after going 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs against Boston.
“I told him the ball was down to which his response was, ‘You threw your bat.’ And that kind of locked me up a little bit and so then I just responded with, ‘I need you to lock it in in a big situation like that,’ and he goes, ‘Oh okay,’ and he threw me out,” Muncy explained, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “It was as simple as that. … He obviously didn’t like that I threw my bat, but it is what it is. I was shocked. It felt very down to me and looking at the replay, it was.”
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who stormed out of the dugout in Muncy’s defense, was also ejected after the Los Angeles rally-killing call.
“Max and I both felt that the ball was down in a big spot,” Roberts told reporters, per NESN. “There’s emotions, I didn’t feel that he warranted to get tossed, I didn’t know what he said. Obviously, we were arguing balls and strikes and I wanted to support Max and voice my opinion as well.”
That put the nail in Los Angeles’ coffin, handing the Dodgers a loss and setting up a rubber match with the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET, at Fenway Park.
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Featured image via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
