Muncy powers the Dodgers past the Phillies
Max Muncy’s two-run homer and seven strong innings from Justin Wrobleski hand the best team in baseball a bounce-back win in Philadelphia — one of three victories on a good night for the home teams.
Good morning! The Dodgers answered. A night after getting run out of Citizens Bank Park, Max Muncy’s two-run shot and a gem from Justin Wrobleski flipped the script in a 2-1 win. And it was a clean night all around: the Angels rolled for a third straight, and the Padres broke out of their skid in Atlanta. Nine days to the trade deadline. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
⚾ Muncy’s night. A two-run homer and seven innings from Wrobleski powered the Dodgers past the Phillies — Fredo Cervantes on the game.
⚾ Five-run first. Walbert Ureña was overpowering and Jo Adell went deep as the Angels won a third straight — the recap from Jack Haslett in Anaheim.
⚾ Back on track. The Padres pounded the Braves 8-3 to snap a rough stretch in Atlanta — Eric Evelhoch at Truist Park.
🏈 The real Jerry Maguire. Super-agent Leigh Steinberg on falling, climbing back and a city hosting the world — Eric Lambkins II in Newport Beach.
🎮 Bigger than the game. TST measured esports icon Faker against the LeBron label — Paul Delos Santos.
📋 SCOREBOARD — TUESDAY
⚾ MLB: Dodgers 2, Phillies 1 · Angels 5, Cardinals 1 · Padres 8, Braves 3
⚾ MUNCY ANSWERS FOR THE DODGERS
Even the best team in baseball needed a response, and it got one. A night after a 10-7 drubbing in Philadelphia, the Dodgers leaned on Max Muncy’s two-run homer — his 19th of the season — and seven sharp innings from birthday-week standout Justin Wrobleski to grind out a 2-1 win over the Phillies and Zack Wheeler. Tanner Scott closed it for his 15th save. As Fredo Cervantes writes, it was the kind of low-scoring, pitching-anchored win that October is built on — exactly the blueprint a Dodgers team waiting on its injured arms wants to rehearse. Los Angeles holds the best record in baseball at 64-38.
GO DEEPER
› Fredo Cervantes: Muncy’s two-run homer powers the Dodgers past the Phillies (The Sporting Tribune)
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⚾ A GOOD NIGHT FOR THE HOME TEAMS
It wasn’t just the Dodgers. In Anaheim, rookie Walbert Ureña was electric — touching 101 mph on his changeup, per the broadcast — over six one-run innings, while a five-run first inning and Jo Adell’s 15th homer carried the Angels to a 5-1 win and a third straight victory, their first winning streak of that length in weeks. Down in Atlanta, the Padres finally broke out, pounding the Braves 8-3 behind a 13-hit night to snap a frustrating stretch and climb back toward .500. Three teams, three wins — a rare clean sweep for the region on a midweek night.
GO DEEPER
› Five-run first and six scorching innings from Ureña lift the Angels over the Cardinals (The Sporting Tribune)
🏈 THE REAL JERRY MAGUIRE
If you missed it, it’s worth your morning: Eric Lambkins II’s profile of Leigh Steinberg — the agent who inspired Jerry Maguire — on negotiating $4 billion in contracts, losing nearly everything to bankruptcy and addiction, and climbing back at 77, more than 16 years sober. Steinberg frames his own comeback against the one his hometown is about to attempt: a three-year run of the World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl at SoFi and the 2028 Olympics. A story about resilience, and a city that keeps getting back up.
GO DEEPER
› Eric Lambkins II: Inside the life of Leigh Steinberg, the real Jerry Maguire (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — WEDNESDAY, JULY 22
⚾ MLB: Dodgers at Phillies — SportsNet LA — 3:45 p.m. PT
⚾ MLB: Padres at Braves — Padres TV — 4:15 p.m. PT
⚾ MLB: Cardinals at Angels — ABTV — 6:38 p.m. PT
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME TONIGHT?
Get-in prices across Southern California and Las Vegas — brought to you by TickPick, the no-hidden-fee ticket marketplace.
⚾ MLB: Cardinals at Angels — Angel Stadium — $9
🌴 TST TRIVIA
Max Muncy has been a middle-of-the-order fixture for the Dodgers since 2018, but he came up with a differen team that released him in spring 2018. Which team let him go?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
Today’s episode digs into a Dodgers bounce-back built on pitching and a Muncy blast, runs through a clean night for the home teams with the Angels and Padres also winning, and revisits Eric Lambkins’ Leigh Steinberg profile. Hear it on the radio across Southern California and Las Vegas via Westwood One Sports.
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Trivia answer: The Oakland Athletics. Muncy was released by the A’s in 2018 before signing a minor-league deal with the Dodgers and breaking out that same season.
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