PHOENIX — Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy left the series finale Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks after a collision at first base in the fifth inning at Chase Field.
Muncy hit a ground ball up the first-base line, and Diamondbacks first baseman Ildemaro Vargas fielded it behind the bag. From there, it was a footrace, in what was going to be a close play.
They reached the base at about the same time, both running hard. The collision sent them both sprawling. Muncy’s helmet and glasses went flying. Vargas dropped the ball.
Max Muncy collides with Diamondbacks first baseman Ildemaro Vargas during the fifth inning Thursday.
(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Dodgers baserunner Max Muncy walks off the field with a team trainer after colliding with Arizona’s Ildemaro Vargas.
(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Both players were slow to get up. After athletic trainers conducted on-field examinations, Muncy and Vargas walked to their respective dugouts.
Muncy left after experiencing a shortness of breath and to undergo evaluation for a concussion, the Dodgers announced.
Because Muncy was called safe on the play, utility player Santiago Espinal replaced him as a pinch runner.
Ohtani dealing with blister
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who had a planned day off Thursday, has been dealing with a small blister on the middle finger of his right hand for his last couple starts, manager Dave Roberts said.
“I don’t expect it to affect him going forward,” Roberts said a day after Ohtani held the Diamondbacks to two hits in six scoreless innings. “Even [Wednesday], if we wouldn’t have tacked on, he would’ve stayed in there.”
Roberts pulled Ohtani after the Dodgers pulled out to a seven-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.
Roberts also said he didn’t believe the blister affected Ohtani’s command last week, when he threw six hitless innings against the Rockies but issued four walks and hit a batter.
“When his command has been off, I think it’s a bigger thing than just a blister,” Roberts said. “Because it’s a small blister. That’s just when his mechanics are out of whack.”