LOS ANGELES -- As he rounded first base, Max Muncy clapped both hands together emphatically. Freddie Freeman, watching from the dugout, threw his arms up to the sky in exultation. The long wait was over.
On the final day of April, in his 106th plate appearance, Muncy hit his first homer of the season.
Muncy also tripled and walked in Wednesday afternoon's 12-7 win that sealed a sweep of the Marlins, closing the book on a trying month at the plate.
"Playing in L.A. is not easy, but it’s a privilege," Muncy said, "and it’s a privilege to play under this pressure, and it’s something I’ve always thrived on, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy, for me or my family. It’s been a rough month."
It was the longest home run drought of his career on multiple counts:
- Muncy appeared in 28 games this season before leaving the yard. Previously, his longest season-opening homerless streak was 17 games (51 plate appearances) with the A's in 2016, when he wasn't spending consistent time at the big league level.
- Muncy had not gone deep in the regular season since last Sept. 15, a span of 151 plate appearances. (He hit three homers in the Dodgers' postseason championship run, though.) That is nearly twice as long as Muncy's second-longest regular-season homer drought, a stretch of 80 plate appearances in May 2022.
- Even without counting the carryover from last season, Muncy's 105-plate appearance span without a homer is easily the longest single-season mark of his career.
After Muncy broke the seal on Wednesday, launching a 2-1 four-seamer from Marlins righty Cal Quantrill a projected 433 feet to straightaway center field, the home dugout reacted in a way that made it clear they were just as thrilled to watch it fly as Muncy was.
"It was huge for me," Muncy said. "Almost a little emotional, but this clubhouse is very tight, very close. Everyone cares about each other in here. We all just want to win, and for us to win, everyone needs to be clicking, and that’s something this whole clubhouse buys into."
Said manager Dave Roberts: "When you feel the support from your teammates, that elation, that joy, it gets emotional. That just speaks to how much it’s been wearing on him, the struggles and the lack of a homer."
The lack of power early on is just one part of an overall cold start at the plate. Muncy entered Wednesday hitting .180 with a .531 OPS. He's been drawing more walks in the second half of April to nudge the latter mark in the right direction, but he's slugging just .301 through his first 29 games.
Muncy is the Dodgers' active home run leader, and ninth on the overall franchise leaderboard, with 191 round-trippers. His team knew it was only a matter of time before he ran into one, but those around him have seen the frustration.
That made it all the more rewarding to finally see one fall.
"I know he's been going through it trying to get that first one, get his swing right," Freeman said. "He's been working so hard. So for him to see some results after all the hard work, hopefully we get the floodgates open for Max."