RBIs

It might be a cliché this time of year, how injured players who return after the trade deadline can serve as de facto deadline acquisitions themselves.

But in the case of Max Muncy and the Dodgers, the team needed it to be true. Badly.

Immediately after Muncy went down with a knee injury in early July, the club’s lineup entered a deep midseason slump. Its actual deadline acquisitions, which included only one hitter in outfielder Alex Call, had underwhelmed the fan base.

Thus, when Muncy returned to action Monday night, the Dodgers were desperately hoping the veteran slugger could provide a spark.

Twenty-four hours later, he did it with two thunderous swings.

In the Dodgers’ 12-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Muncy officially christened his comeback with a four-for-five, four-RBI performance that included a pair of no-doubt home runs off Miles Mikolas — picking up almost exactly where he left off before suffering a July 2 knee injury that he feared would end his season.

“As I was laying there on the ground that night, I thought for sure this is it,” Muncy recalled this week, after not only recovering from what proved to be just a bone bruise, but doing it two weeks faster than the initial six-week timeline the team had expected.

“It’s hard to stay positive in a moment like that,” Muncy added, while reliving Michael A. Taylor’s slide into his left knee a month earlier. “But extremely thankful and blessed to be back on a baseball field this year.”

Muncy did have some rust to knock off, going hitless in three at-bats with a walk and strikeout in his first game back Monday night against crafty Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray.

On Tuesday, however, Mikolas gave him the chance to do some long-awaited damage.

In the first inning, after Shohei Ohtani doubled and scored on a Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly, Muncy clobbered a center-cut, first-pitch sinker 416 feet into the right-field pavilion, giving the Dodgers a quick 2-0 lead.

In the third, after the Cardinals leveled the score on Nolan Gorman’s two-run homer off Emmet Sheehan an inning earlier, Muncy went deep again, whacking an elevated fastball 404 feet for a two-run blast.

The Dodgers (66-48) wouldn’t relinquish the lead again, going on to their first double-digit scoring effort since June 22 thanks to a five-run rally in the seventh, when Muncy also added an RBI single, and two more runs in the eighth, when Muncy tacked on his fourth hit.

There were other positive signs for the Dodgers’ recently scuffling lineup on Tuesday.

Mookie Betts, who was mired in a career-long five-game, 22 at-bat hitless streak, recorded three knocks: A double right before Muncy’s second homer in the third, a line-drive single in the fifth, and a seeing-eye grounder in the eighth.

Andy Pages, who was batting just .211 since the All-Star break, made hard contact on doubles in the sixth and the seventh.

And Teoscar Hernández, who was hitting just .213 since returning from a groin strain in May, came roaring to life with a two-homer game, going back-to-back with Muncy on a solo home run in the third before smashing a game-sealing three-run drive after Muncy’s RBI single in the seventh.

Leading up to the deadline, manager Dave Roberts cited that subset of slumping hitters as potential quasi-deadline additions in their own right. Part of the reason for the team’s relative inaction at the deadline was its trust that the healthy, but scuffling, members of its lineup would get back on track down the stretch.

Still, Muncy’s eventual return had long been seen as the Dodgers’ biggest potential boon, especially after they went from leading the majors in scoring before he got hurt to ranking last in runs over the 25 games he missed.

“We’ve certainly missed him,” Roberts said ahead of Muncy’s return Monday. “The night he came off the field, you’re starting to think of it potentially being season-ending. So to get him back in a month, we’re all excited. He’s put in a lot of work to get back with this timeline. And yeah, we’ve needed him.”

Two games in, the importance of his return is already being felt.

PHILADELPHIA — Mike Trout arrived in Philadelphia in time to catch the unveiling of a new target in the deepest part of the ballpark — the 2026 All-Star Game logo, complete with the Liberty Bell in the center of the design.

The Angels slugger has something to aim for in Philly.

As a home run target? No, the oversized symbol that celebrates next year’s All-Star Game is raised well beyond the center-field wall and out of reach to even Schwarbombs in Ashburn Alley, closer to the retired numbers on the bricks at Citizens Bank Park.

As a potential destination for next season? Making the All-Star Game is more on the nose for Trout, an 11-time selection who hasn’t been picked to play for the American League since 2023.

Yet each time Trout plays in Philadelphia, just over 40 miles from the slugger’s New Jersey hometown, talk tends to drift from All-Star Games, his injuries, his upcoming career milestones — he’s closing in on 400 homers and 1,000 RBIs — or a rare Angels’ push at the postseason, and lands right on the possibility he’ll one day suit up for the Phillies.

“I hear it all the time,” Trout said with a laugh outside the Angels’ clubhouse on Friday. “Right now, I’m enjoying myself with this team in here. These guys come to the ballpark every day and play hard. It’s hard not for me to see it, because I see it and hear it all the time.”

He’ll settle for at least a crack at the 2026 All-Star Game.

“It would definitely mean a lot,” Trout said.

Mike Trout stands on the field during a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 13.

(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)

Trout entered the start of a three-game series against the Phillies having the kind of season that has defined most of his last five seasons in California. When he’s healthy, he’s on. He has a .283 batting average, .433 on-base percentage and .478 slugging percentage with eight home runs and 23 RBIs in 41 games since he came off the injured list on May 30. Otherwise, it’s more stints on the IL. This season, he was hampered by a bone bruise on his left knee that cost him time.

Trout was the designated hitter on Friday night against the NL East champion Phillies, who could certainly use a right-handed bat with pop in the outfield as they make their own playoff run. He did some light pregame work in the outfield (“get my feet under me”) and hoped he’d return to right field in the near future. Trout said his knee did feel “a lot better” after four days off and off his feet over the All-Star break.

“I’m just happy to be in the lineup, contributing,” he said. “Years past, it’s just come to the ballpark, not be able to at least hit. That’s been frustrating, that’s been tough.”

He again expected a full house of fans from his hometown of Millville, N.J., on hand to root him on as the three-time AL MVP started the game with 395 career home runs and 995 career RBIs.

“To think about it, it’s just how fast it’s going,” Trout said. “Just trying to enjoy every minute of it. The milestones are awesome. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting them.”

Trout would have blown by those numbers years ago had it not been for his injuries that have allowed him to play more than 82 games only once since 2019.

“Things happen,” he said.

There are no guarantees he’ll chip away at those numbers over the weekend — Trout has never gone deep at Citizens Bank Park.

Trout has kept his ties to the area as he blossomed into one of baseball’s great sluggers; his family still lives in the area, he collaborated with Tiger Woods on a new golf course, and yes, the Eagles season-ticket holder still bleeds kelly green.

The Angels were 47-49 headed into Friday, but only four games out of a wild-card spot. Trout played in three career playoff games in 2014. The Angels’ 47 wins are the most for the franchise at the All-Star break since it had 49 in 2018.

“The team in there right now, we’ve got a great mindset,” he said. “We’ve got a great group in there. We pass the baton at the plate. We’re tough outs.”

None tougher at his best than Trout. He’s trying to become the 20th player in baseball history to hit his first 400 home runs with one franchise.

“This guy is a superstar,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I saw him when he first came up and he hit the ball as far as you could think. He runs down the first base line, it sounds like a horse, just big and strong and fast.”

Gelston writes for the Associated Press.