To torpedo or not to torpedo.
That’s what Dodgers slugger Max Muncy was deciding on Wednesday night as the Braves were clinging to a 5-3 lead in the eighth inning.
After starting the game 0-for-3, and 2-for-25 for the season, Muncy decided to leave the torpedo bat in the dugout when he came to the plate with two outs in the eighth against Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias.
With two men in scoring position, Muncy ripped one to right center field to erase the 5-0 deficit and tie the game at five.
“Obviously the start to the season was pretty rough for me,” Muncy told reporters after the game. “I felt like the bat was causing me to be a little bit off-plane. A little bit in and out of the zone because my swings felt really good tonight, but maybe just a bit off. So I just decided to go back to my regular bat.”
With Muncy ditching the torpedo, the Dodgers had the game all knotted up at five when Shohei Ohtani came to bat with two outs in the ninth and no one on base.
The Japanese superstar drilled a home run to center to walk it off, giving Los Angeles a 6-5 win and an 8-0 record while Atlanta flounders to an 0-7 embarrassment.
Muncy explained in his postgame interview how he might approach his bat plans going forward.
“I do think there was some good to using the torpedo bat today,” Muncy said. “It might be something you practice with and go back to my bat for the game. It seemed to work that last at bat. You know, us baseball players are not superstitious.
“Traditionally, I like my weight toward the end of the bat. So, this is something that takes the weight out of the end of the bat. So maybe it’s just not for me. It’s for some guys but maybe not for me.”
The torpedo bat became the talk of baseball when the Yankees battered the Brewers in the opening weekend of the season with five players in the lineup using it.
Muncy and Ohtani’s heroics added to the Braves’ winless woes.
They also lost outfielder Jurickson Profar for 80 games due to a positive performance-enhancing drugs test, which will also ban him from the playoffs.