Muncy's historic night gets lost in Díaz's ninth-inning collapse

LOS ANGELES — There are nights at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium that are supposed to become part of the place’s history.

Thursday night had all the makings of one.

Max Muncy came off the bench in the sixth inning, turned around a 100 mph fastball from Antonio Senzatela and sent it over the wall for a three-run homer that gave the Dodgers their first lead of the night. It was vintage Muncy, big swing, big moment, impossible to miss.

And it was historic.

With that pinch-hit blast, Muncy passed Eric Karros for the most home runs in Dodger Stadium history, with 131. Karros, sitting in the booth, could only watch as Muncy took sole possession of the record that had belonged to him.

For a few innings, it looked like Muncy’s night.

Instead, it became another night defined by Edwin Díaz.

The Dodgers carried a 4-2 lead into the ninth, handing the ball to their closer with a chance to preserve everything Muncy had built.

It didn't happen.

Díaz allowed three singles and a run before recording the first out. A couple of fastballs leaked over the middle, and the Brewers made him pay. Jackson Chourio poked a slider into right field for an RBI single, cutting the Dodgers' lead to 4-3.

Then Garrett Mitchell lined another slider into the game, tying it at 4-4.

The boos began to rain down.

Díaz had blown two saves in his previous five games. Now it was three blown saves in six games, and his record since returning from the injured list had fallen to just 2-5 in save opportunities.

“It's frustrating because I know my ability, what I can do in the moment. To not be able to do it sucks. I just gotta come tomorrow and try to keep getting better." Díaz said. 

That is no longer a bad stretch.

That is a problem.

Alex Vesia came in with two outs and inherited the mess, but Jake Bauers delivered a RBI single to put Milwaukee ahead, 5-4.

Just like that, the Dodgers had gone from three outs away to losing the game.

They never got the lead back.

"When you use five relievers and lose a game, that's costly," Dave Roberts said afterward.

The sentence said as much about the Dodgers' bullpen as it did about Díaz. The Dodgers had gotten six innings from Roki Sasaki, survived his command issues and watched its offense manufacture a lead. Then the bullpen couldn't close the door.

Sasaki's night was far from perfect. He walked five, including three in a fourth inning in which he labored through 78 pitches with only 40 strikes. But he limited the damage to two runs and finished six innings with four hits allowed, five walks and two strikeouts.

More importantly, he settled down.

After struggling in the middle innings, Sasaki finished strongly and continued what has become a steadier run since the All-Star break. His ERA over that span is now 2.10.

"I couldn't win the game, but I was able to make good pitches," Sasaki said.

He did enough to put the Dodgers in position to win. Muncy did more than enough to put them ahead. Díaz couldn't finish it.

And now Roberts is facing a decision he clearly doesn't want to make.

Asked whether Díaz should continue working through his struggles in the ninth inning or temporarily move into a lower-leverage role, Roberts offered an answer that sounded less like an endorsement and more like a reality check.

"Give me another option."

That's the uncomfortable part.

It's easy to say a struggling closer should be removed from the ninth inning. It's harder when the manager has to actually identify who takes those ninth-inning outs instead.

Díaz himself understands the predicament.

"I know I'm struggling, so I want to do the best thing for our team," he said. "If they give me the ball in the ninth, I'll try to do my job. If they give me the ball in another inning, I will try to do my job."

He plans to watch video, stay positive and come back tomorrow.

"I'm just trying to be positive," Díaz said. "Today was a tough one, so I'm gonna go home, see some video and try to get better tomorrow."

That is all Díaz can say.

But the Dodgers have to decide what they can trust.

Because Thursday wasn't simply another blown save. It was the third one in six games, coming after the Dodgers had finally seized control of a game that had been anything but easy.

And that makes Muncy's moment particularly painful.

A pinch-hit, three-run homer. A historic 131st home run at Dodger Stadium. A record taken from a Dodgers legend. A 100 mph fastball turned into a souvenir.

It should have been the story. Instead, it became the footnote.

The Brewers leave Dodger Stadium with a 5-4 victory, while the Dodgers are left to flush another frustrating loss and regroup for Friday night.

Fortunately for the Dodgers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to take the mound. The Dodgers could use a clean slate. They could also use a closer who can make Muncy's historic moments last nine innings.