LOS ANGELES – Freddie Freeman can usually count on having big games when he’s back home in Southern California and his dad, brothers and other family members and friends are in attendance at Dodger Stadium. Any factor that’ll help him get some hits right now, Freeman will take it.
Freeman had one of the Braves’ three hits off Dodgers uber-ace lefty Clayton Kershaw in a 4-0 loss Saturday, but was batting just .189 (10-for-53) with one double, one homer and one RBI in his past 14 games before Sunday’s series finale at Dodger Stadium.
“I love coming home,” said Freeman, who was born and raised in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles. “I had a lot of family members here this whole week, and they’re all making the trip to San Diego (for a series starting Monday). They’re going to make a little three-day vacation out of it.
“It’s always nice to come home and hopefully we’ll get a win for them.”
The Braves were outscored 8-2 in losing the first two games of the Dodgers series before Sunday, and had scored just seven runs in their past five games (1-4) and been shut out three times in that span.
Freeman and Nick Markakis, the two most established and accomplished veterans in the Braves’ lineup, have been in significant slumps.
Before getting three hits Sunday, Markakis had batted .188 (21-for-112) in 30 games since the beginning of May, with four extra-base hits, 10 RBIs, a .282 on-base percentage and .241 slugging percentage. This after hitting .302 with 11 doubles, 19 RBIs and a .406 on-base percentage in 23 April games,
In Freeman’s past 23 games before Sunday, he hit .200 (18-for-90) with three doubles, three homers, six RBIs and a .280 OBP, with nine walks and 29 strikeouts. Two homers and four RBIs in that stretch came in one game May 20 at Philadelphia.
The Braves, batting .154 with 15 runs and one homer in their past seven games before Sunday, obviously could really use one of the type of runs Freeman’s been known for in the past, the kind of torrid stretches when he’s put an offense on his shoulders for a week or two at a time.
Right now, he’ll take just getting a few breaks, getting some balls to drop for hits and getting out of his funk.
“Hopefully it happens soon,” he said Sunday morning. “Just got to keep going out there and keep swinging. That’s all I can really do. Getting work in, doing everything I can to get ready for the game. If I don’t get hits, I don’t get hits, but I’m trying to get hits.”
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