Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Max Muncy admits he embellished after being taken down by a Brett Gardner slide in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 2-1 win over the New York Yankees.
Gardner was on first and Gleyber Torres on second with one out and the Yankees down 2-1 when Gio Urshela hit into a fielder’s choice. The Dodgers went to second looking for a game-ending double play. Gardner had other plans and slid into Muncy to prevent the double play. Not only was Muncy unable to turn two, but a review led to Gardner being called safe, loading the bases.
After the game, Muncy told reporters he embellished the effects of the contact so that he would receive a timeout, preventing Torres from trying to score from third.
Max Muncy said he was doing a little "soccer" move at 2B so the umps would call time and not allow Gleyber to score.
"He still got me good, it still hurt, so it wasn't entirely fake, but there might have been a little acting class in there."
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 25, 2019
Torres tried to score while Muncy was down but was told to return to third due to time being out. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was considering a protest over the matter.
Maybe Muncy should have kept his mouth shut over what he had done. He doesn’t want to lose the trust of the umpires. But Muncy isn’t exactly known for keeping things to himself.
As for those wondering about the slide, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thought it was clean.
