Max Muncy provided starter Walker Buehler an early cushion, swatting a two-run home run in the first inning off of Nationals hurler Stephen Strasburg in Game 5 of the NLDS in Los Angeles.
Joc Pederson led off with a weird ground-rule double to left field. The ball hit the padding, then ricocheted through a window in the fence. It was initially ruled a home run but the umpires reviewed the play and correctly reassigned Pederson to second base. It didn’t matter much as Max Muncy followed up with a two-run dinger to right field, his third homer of the series.
Strasburg was able to see his way out of the inning but threw 22 pitches in the process. Not the start the Nationals wanted, especially given the reluctance manager Dave Martinez has shown relying on his bullpen, which registered the worst aggregate ERA in the National League during the regular season.
Update: Kiké Hernández added a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the second against Strasburg. 3-0 Dodgers.
