Dodgers news: Max Muncy violent collision prompts Diamondbacks manager to point fingers

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 3-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, splitting the four-game series. During the game, Max Muncy was injured. Muncy collided with Diamondbacks first baseman Ildemaro Vargas, leading to both of them leaving the game.

Now, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo is speaking out about the collision, per Diamondbacks on SI.

“I think a first baseman, somebody like Freddie Freeman, would slide feet first and give way to the runner, who’s probably going to be standing up… That would have been the way to avoid that situation. And I’m thinking Max [Muncy] probably thought that [Ildemaro] Vargas was going to slide, and then it’s at the point of no return. They just couldn’t get out of the way of each other,” Lovullo said.

Vargas has not played a lot of first base in his ten-year MLB career. He has spent most of his time at third and second base, playing just 56 of his 481 games at first. Thirty-seven of those games have come this season.

Still, Vargas has to get to the bag fast. In the fifth inning, Muncy hit a ground ball down the line over first base. Vargas fielded the ball and turned to throw it to first, but pitcher Ryne Nelson was not covering the bag. This led to Vargas sprinting for the bag and the collision at first.  Lovullo was not happy about Nelson not covering the bag.

“That bothers me. We’re going to tighten that down. We talked about that as it happened, we talked about it as the game was ending, and in my office. So we’ve gotta tighten that down. We have been showing a vulnerability to getting over and covering first base, and that’s not who we are,” Lovullo continued.

As for Muncy, he avoided a concussion but will still be out of the lineup on Friday.  The Dodgers begin a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.

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