LOS ANGELES — Before the highest of the second inning on Tuesday, everybody in attendance at Dodger Stadium, with the assistance of a mariachi band, serenaded Freddie Freeman because the celebrity celebrated his thirty fourth birthday.
In the third, Freeman determined to maintain the celebration going, smacking a two-run homer to left-center area. Just as he’s achieved numerous occasions in his two seasons in Los Angeles, Freeman delivered when most wanted.
Freeman went 4-for-5 with that homer to steer the Dodgers to an 11-2 win over the Padres, serving to the membership inch nearer to the tenth National League West title up to now 11 seasons. It’s the fourth time Freeman has homered on his birthday in his profession.
“You’ve got a four-deck stadium. It’s the only one in baseball. You’ve got 50,000 people, every single night here,” Freeman mentioned. “For them to exit of their strategy to make you’re feeling good once you’re doing all your job, it means rather a lot. I do respect it. It does make you’re feeling good inside and likewise simply means you are doing all your job fairly good. That’s what I’m additionally completely happy about.”
With Ronald Acuña Jr. and Mookie Betts stealing all of the headlines — and deservedly so — for NL MVP, it’s straightforward to look previous what Freeman has achieved this season. But once you take a look, it’s even simpler to see how spectacular his ‘23 marketing campaign has been.
Freeman leads the Majors with 83 extra-base hits, one shy of matching the Los Angeles file. He’s additionally simply six hits away from attending to the 200 mark for the primary time in his profession, a quantity he has overtly expressed wanting to achieve. Freeman has additionally scored 121 runs this season, which is a brand new profession excessive.
The 2020 NL MVP is doing all of that whereas being .09 factors behind Luis Arraez for the NL batting title and beginning all 144 video games for the Dodgers at first base.
“I think if you look at Freddie’s career, a lot of it has gone unnoticed,” mentioned Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. “There’s no self-promotion to his game and he just loves to compete. And he wins. When you talk about Most Valuable Players, for me, he’s right at the top of the conversation.”
As the Dodgers kind by means of a lot of uncertainties earlier than the top of the common season and into October, Freeman and Betts are the 2 gamers they don’t have to fret about. But they understand it must be greater than a two-man present with a view to win a World Series.
On Tuesday, the Dodgers noticed some optimistic indicators from Will Smith, who smacked a three-run homer, his first dinger in two weeks. Max Muncy, J.D. Martinez and Chris Taylor additionally added some offense.
Lance Lynn gave the Dodgers a much-needed high quality begin, permitting simply two runs over seven innings. The veteran right-hander bought into hassle early within the recreation, however was capable of get out of a two-on, nobody-out jam within the first unscathed. He additionally allowed only one run in a bases-loaded, nobody-out state of affairs within the fourth.
“The last two were ugly. There’s no other way to say it,” Lynn mentioned. “But offense did a great job giving me the lead, defense made great plays behind me. Bullpen needed it. So it was a good win all the way around.”
In the top, Lynn allowed two runs and struck out three over seven innings. With the Dodgers’ rotation nonetheless in search of solutions, it was a welcome sight for the membership to look at Lynn get again on monitor.
Then there was Kyle Hurt, who made his Major League debut by tossing two good frames, together with placing out the aspect within the ninth. The Dodgers’ No. 12 prospect didn’t make it to Dodger Stadium till 6:45 p.m PT. He was simply in time to witness the celebration for No. 5.
“It was just fun,” Freeman mentioned in entrance of a locker stuffed with balloons and cookies. “Just birthday.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com