The Los Angeles Dodgers were unable to complete their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night, as they suffered a 3-2 defeat after Ketel Marte launched a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Earlier, though, an incident took place between Max Muncy and Ildemaro Vargas that caught more attention than Marte’s heroics.
In the top of the fifth inning, Muncy collided with Vargas at first base as he attempted to leg out an infield hit. Muncy’s actions during the collision, which saw him essentially jump into Vargas, earned him some criticism, and after both players were pulled from the game early, the two-time All-Star explained his side of the story.
Max Muncy Clears the Air on Ildemaro Vargas Collision
Even with the Dodgers continually bringing in a plethora of talented players every year, Muncy has remained the team’s starting third baseman for the 2026 campaign. He’s gotten off to one of his best starts in recent memory, too, as he’s hitting .254 with 14 home runs and 22 RBIs through his first 57 games of action.
On the other end of this dustup is Vargas, who has emerged as a surprising presence in Arizona’s lineup so far this season. Through 55 games, Vargas is hitting .283 with seven home runs and 37 RBIs, which is some surprisingly efficient production, considering how Vargas has struggled to earn consistent playing time for much of his career.
Both guys could be dealing with some worrisome injury issues in the wake of this collision, though. Muncy’s handling of the incident was certainly eye-opening, as he seemed to embrace this contact with Vargas. After the game, though, Muncy shot down that notion, saying both he and Vargas didn’t seem to know which direction the other player was headed in.
“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 gonna stay on that side,” Muncy said when speaking to reporters. “It felt like neither of us knew which direction we were gonna go, and then we both went the wrong direction … Obviously, I really hope Vargas is OK. I sent something over to him. Hoping he’s doing alright.”
Dodgers Hoping Max Muncy Avoids Any Sort of Injury
Despite a violent collision, the Dodgers avoided a serious injury with Max Muncy.
The good news for the Dodgers is that Muncy appeared fine after the game, so while this incident certainly looked ugly, he largely managed to escape unscathed. The hope is that the same is true for Vargas, and after he took X-rays on a series of different ailing parts of his body, it seems like everything has turned up negative.
Los Angeles will likely give Muncy a day or two off so that he can recover properly, but the expectation is that he will be back on the field sooner rather than later. After wrapping up their series with the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers will look to get back in the win column on Friday night when they open a new series with the Los Angeles Angels.
Dodgers’ Max Muncy Explains What Happened in Collision with Diamondbacks’ Ildemaro Vargas