Muncy caps 3-HR night with walk-off as Dodgers rally past Rangers

LOS ANGELES — Max Muncy hit three homers, including a game-winning, two-out solo shot in the ninth inning after Edwin Diaz blew his first save, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied past the Texas Rangers 8-7 on Friday night in the opener of a series between the past three World Series champions.

Diaz (1-0) blew his first save in six appearances after allowing three runs in the ninth that tied the score at 7-7. He gave up a leadoff single to pinch hitter Joc Pederson before Evan Carter hammered a first-pitch fastball to right. After two outs, Josh Jung singled. Pinch runner Sam Haggerty stole second, and Brandon Nimmo was intentionally walked. Ezequiel Duran followed with a tying single to left.

After Will Smith and Freddie Freeman struck out, Muncy hit a 401-foot shot to right off Jacob Latz (0-1).

The Dodgers first rallied in the sixth thanks to Andy Pages’ go-ahead, two-run double.

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The NL West-leading Dodgers trailed by two runs before ending the AL West-leading Rangers’ three-game winning streak. Texas won the World Series in 2023, and the Dodgers followed with back-to-back titles in 2024 and ’25.

Muncy hit solo shots in the second and fourth innings off Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. Muncy had his second career three-homer game and moved into sole possession of sixth all time with 212 career homers for the Dodgers.

Muncy, who was 4-for-26 in April entering Friday’s game, was praised by Roberts for trusting “the process” and staying confident at the plate.

“I think in years past, you’d see a spike in some anxiousness bleed in, where now he’s in a place where he’s really confident and trusts the process and knows that if he’s in a good place and he’s not getting the results to kind of stay the course, and tonight showed the results, and so I really commend him for that,” Roberts said. “He’s just playing the heck out of third base, and he’s taking good at-bats, and right now he’s had a great start to 2025.”

The Dodgers had 15 hits, and Muncy reached base four times. In the eighth, the ball went off the glove of first baseman Jake Burger in foul territory, triggering a foot race to the bag. Muncy collided with reliever Luis Curvelo, who went down. Curvelo tossed a couple of warmup pitches and remained in the game.

Shohei Ohtani singled in the fifth, extending his on-base streak to 44 games and surpassing Ichiro Suzuki for the longest such streak by a Japanese-born player. It was Ohtani’s only hit on his first bobblehead night of the season.

Pages also reached base four times and added four RBIs, falling a triple short of the cycle. He singled in the second, walked in the fifth, doubled in the sixth and hit a two-run blast off Curvelo in the eighth to make it 7-4.

The Rangers led 3-1 on Corey Seager’s three-run homer with two outs off Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow.

Wyatt Langford extended the Rangers’ lead to 4-2 with a two-out solo homer — his first of the season — in the fifth. He was replaced in the sixth because of right quad tightness.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.