Dodgers blow lead in loss to Diamondbacks after Max Muncy's violent collision

PHOENIX - This was a painful loss in more ways than one for the Dodgers.

Justin Wrobleski held the Arizona Diamondbacks scoreless for six innings. But the bullpen let a two-run lead get away in the eighth inning and lost when Tanner Scott gave up a walk-off home run to Ketel Marte in the ninth. The 3-2 loss was just the Dodgers' third in their past 12 games.

But this one might leave a mark.

Third baseman Max Muncy left the game in the fifth inning after a violent collision at first base with Diamondbacks first baseman Ildemaro Vargas. Muncy was evaluated for a concussion and had a cut and swollen bridge of his nose (probably from his glasses). He won't play Friday and will be re-evaluated after that.

"I'm gonna be all right," he said after the game. "A little banged up, but I'll be all right."

Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning, facing the minimum 12 batters through four thanks to a double play after his walk of Will Smith in the second inning.

Kyle Tucker broke up Nelson's no-hit run with a leadoff single in the fifth – but he was also erased in a double play.

Muncy followed by bouncing a ball down the first base line. Vargas fielded it up the line and raced Muncy to the base. Muncy arrived first but neither gave way and they collided violently.

"Ground ball to the right side," Muncy recounted. "I saw the pitcher was slow off the mound, and I saw he (Vargas) fielded it kind of running backwards. So I busted hard out of the box. And as I'm running down the line, I saw him in foul territory, so I got to the inside of the bag, and I thought he was going to stay on that side.

"It felt like neither of us knew which direction we were going to go, and then we both went the wrong direction, and yeah – bang. Obviously, I really hope Vargas is OK. I sent something over to him. I'm hoping he's doing all right, and he's not too bad. But just bad situation that looks like neither of us knew which direction to go."

Both went flying, landing hard on the ground and staying there for awhile before both slowly left the field, escorted by trainers from either team. The collision knocked the breath out of Muncy.

"The whole body hurts," Vargas said through an interpreter. "I kind of feel like like I kind of ran into a truck."

The Dodgers would have that feeling in the ninth inning.

Muncy was replaced by pinch-runner Santiago Espinal, who scored from first when Corbin Carroll misplayed Ryan Ward's line drive in the gap. Carroll raced over then watched the ball carry over his head for a double. Dalton Rushing's fly ball also found grass in shallow left-center field, landing in no-man's land for an RBI single when neither center fielder Ryan Waldschmidt nor left fielder Tommy Troy could get there in time.

"You make a mistake like that (not covering first base on Muncy's grounder) and the game tends to make you pay for it," Nelson lamented later. "It could have been avoided by me just covering first base."

That two-run product of both good and bad fortune was enough for Wrobleski.

He stranded runners in four of his six innings, holding the Diamondbacks hitless with runners in scoring position.

His most precarious situation came in the sixth inning. After retiring the first two batters, he gave up a single to Nolan Arenado and then a drive to the wall in left-center by Waldschmidt. Diamondbacks third-base coach J.R. House stopped Arenado at third base.

Wrobleski got ahead of the next hitter, Pavin Smith, 0-and-2 thanks to two successful ABS challenges by Dalton Rushing and Smith grounded out to end the inning.

"Those were huge, huge," Wrobleski said. "That's a really big spot in the game. Yeah, it changes the game, it changes that at-bat, for sure."

Once again showing increased velocity on his fastball (it averaged 95.4 mph on Thursday), Wrobleski has rebounded from a three-start stretch when he allowed 14 runs and has allowed just one run on seven hits in 13 innings over his past two. Thursday was the seventh time in his 10 starts that he allowed one or no runs.

But the Dodgers' bullpen gave up the lead in the eighth inning. Corbin Carroll led off the inning with a home run off Will Klein – the first home run Klein has allowed in his 49 major-league innings.

"The fastball/sweeper hasn't been really good. I think he's getting a little kind of east-west," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "It's not breaking as much as it has in the past. The fastball, I think, is there's a lot of misfires, and I think the velocity is fine, but I just think the command of the fastball and the sweeper was just not where it was."

Klein walked the next batter and gave up a single to put two runners on with one out. Alex Vesia came in and got the second out but then gave up a game-tying RBI single to Geraldo Perdomo.

Scott came on in the bottom of the ninth and struck out rookie Ryan Waldschmidt, but Marte crushed a first-pitch fastball, hitting it 113 mph off the bat and 431 feet into the left-field seats.

It was the second time in his past three appearances Scott gave up a game-deciding home run.

"You've got to tip your cap. He's a good hitter," Scott said. "Should I have gone up and in? Yeah. Or just a slider. I knew he was going to be aggressive and – good hitter."

The game ended with Shohei Ohtani the last unused player on the Dodgers' bench. Roberts said Ohtani was available to pinch-hit in the "right spot." Will Smith doubled with two outs in the ninth but Roberts didn't use Ohtani in that spot. Having used Miguel Rojas to pinch-hit for Alex Freeland against a left-handed pitcher, Espinal to replace Muncy and Alex Call as a defensive replacement for Ryan Ward in left field, the Dodgers would have needed to get creative defensively if Ohtani pinch-hit.

The Dodgers would likely have given up the DH by moving Smith to catcher. Rushing could have moved to first base and Freddie Freeman to third base – an alignment they nearly used in a game earlier this year.

"I didn't want to go two innings trying to figure out how to play defense with Shohei, then being out of the game – he's not going to play defense," Roberts said. "So he was going to hit in the 10th inning for Rojas, and we were going to try to piece it together after that.

"Really, we had no one left on the bench. So I think for me, it was more of once we get into extra innings, then I would kind of fire that bullet. I wanted to stay away from (Ohtani) all game. It's harder on the road when you have to play defense if you don't score."

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 9:34 PM.