PHOENIX –– Max Muncy and Ildemaro Vargas both ran full speed to first base in the fifth inning of Thursday’s game between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.
In a brutal moment that forced both players to exit early –– and left Muncy with shortness of breath and a cut on his nose –– neither got out of the way in time to avoid a frightening head-on collision.
“It was pretty violent,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The good news: Neither Muncy nor Vargas seemed to have sustained serious injuries on the play. Muncy passed concussion protocol, saying afterward that he was “gonna be all right” despite getting “a little banged up.” Vargas also told reporters that all the exams and tests he had done afterward were negative, despite feeling like he “ran into a truck.”
“I definitely did not mean to run into him,” Muncy said. “It just happened, and hopefully he’s doing all right.”
With two outs in the fifth, Muncy had hit a ground ball up the line that Vargas, playing first for Arizona, fielded directly behind the bag.
Max Muncy and Ildemaro Vargas both ran full speed to first base in the fifth inning of Thursday’s game between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks Getty Images
In a brutal moment that knocked both players out of the game, neither got out of the way in time to avoid a head-on collision. Getty Images
Vargas tried to make the play himself by racing back to first. But Muncy was charging in a dead sprint right at him up the baseline.
The two arrived at the base almost simultaneously, with Muncy getting there a half-second sooner to reach safely for a single.
However, it left no time for either to avoid the bone-crushing hit, with both taking a step toward the inside part of the bag before crashing into each other and sprawling to the ground.
“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 [other] side,” said Muncy, who had his glasses and helmet fly off his head. “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.”
Both Muncy and Vargas stayed down on the ground for several minutes, writhing in pain while getting checked by their teams’ respective trainers.
Muncy knew initially that his “head got banged up a little bit,” from both the impact of the collision and a cut that came from glasses. Then he felt shortness of breath while lying on his back.
“When I looked at the replay, it looked like we both kind of did the same thing, where we both jumped to almost, you know, de-weight ourselves and avoid it,” Muncy said. “Unfortunately, we did not.”
Eventually, both players got back to their feet and hobbled off the field. Vargas sustained bruises to his rib cage and left thigh, but was otherwise alright.
“Just a bad situation that looks like neither of us knew which direction to go,” said Muncy, who had a gift sent over to Vargas in the Dbacks clubhouse after the game.
“I expressed my thank you to him [for that],” Vargas noted through an interpreter. “It’s a hard play. It’s thing you don’t want to see happen.”
Thursday’s collision marked the second time in recent weeks Muncy has been removed from a game early.
It left no time for either to avoid the bone-crushing hit, one that was so violent that Muncy’s helmet and glasses both went flying. Getty Images
On May 22, Muncy was hit by a pitch in his right wrist that forced him to make an early exit in Milwaukee. He missed the team’s next three games after that, but avoided a stint on the injured list.
The Dodgers are hopeful that will be the case again this time.
Roberts said Muncy will be down on Friday (the team was planning to give him an off day anyway) but that he should be available for the rest of the club’s weekend series against the Angels.
“They went through the concussion protocol, and then kind of just treated him up,” Roberts said. “But Max seems pretty with it right now.”
