NEW YORK (AP) — All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman is out of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ starting lineup. The fourth game of the National League championship Contro i New York Mets.
Freeman had played with a severely sprained and swollen right ankle throughout the postseason. He also missed Game 4 of the tournament Division series In San Diego with Los Angeles at risk of elimination.
Even without Freeman, the Dodgers posted a 10-2 win over New York that gave them a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and put them one win away from their 25th pennant, the most in league history. National League.
“I feel really good. We’re just trying to manage the situation,” Freeman said after the game. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
Hours earlier, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said resting Freeman was “the right decision.”
“He is obviously ill and is doing everything he can to stay on the pitch. With back-to-back games and tomorrow’s game, I’m just trying to make a decision that puts him in the best position for the next few games,” Roberts explained Thursday night.
“And tonight it looked easy. He obviously wants to be out there. But him not being in the starting lineup, coming in and out of the field, getting ready for a big game tonight, it made a lot of sense.”
Roberts indicated that he could have used Freeman as a hitter in an important situation, but that was never necessary. He said he called the player after Wednesday night’s win to let him know so he could take full advantage of knowing he would be rested.
“He asked me if he was sitting on the bench. That’s one thing. He doesn’t offer days off,” Roberts said, drawing a few chuckles from reporters.
“I know how much he struggles to stay on the pitch. So I think he understood that it was in his best interest not to start tonight’s game. But he handled it like a professional.”
Freeman underwent hours of pre-game therapy every day just to get ready to play.
“I don’t think my respect could be greater for Freddie. To be honest, there’s a lot riding on this thing. But I’m not interested in knowing all the details,” Roberts said. “I just want to know whether he’s there or not, knowing that he’s in good hands with our coaching staff. But nowadays preparing for a football match is a huge task.
Los Angeles holds a 2-1 lead in an NFL-best seven heading into Thursday night’s game at Citi Field. With veteran Mets starter José Quintana, a lefty, the Dodgers moved Max Muncy from third base to first and Kiké Hernández from center field to third base.
Rookie outfielder Andy Baggs, a right-handed hitter, was scheduled to start in center, striking out the eighth. Pages also played center field in Game 2 against lefty Sean Manaea.
Teoscar Hernandez moved into Freeman’s usual third position in the standings. Batter Tommy Edman homered for the third time in his career, all since Aug. 29 with the Dodgers.
Edman doubled twice and drove in three runs, resulting in seven RBIs in the NLCS. He has a career OPS of .726 and has never had more than 13 homers or 57 RBIs in any of his six major league seasons. But he’s batting .324 in the postseason and is 7-for-17 (.412) in the NLCS.
Chris Taylor was at second base, batting ninth, in place of Gavin Lux, the left-handed batter who missed the second game with a right hip flexor injury. Lux returned in Game 3 against right-hander Luis Severino and finished 0-for-4 with a strikeout, never getting the ball past the pitcher.
“I think it was a combination. He had some starts against left-handed pitching. Quintana was pretty tough on lefties, grounding them out, strikeout rates and things like that. It’s part of it,” Roberts said of Lux. Also for the leg I try to give him an extra day to recover, but also make him available in case of late need.”
The 35-year-old Freeman, a career .300 hitter in 15 major league seasons, sprained his ankle while running to first base against the Padres during the final week of the regular season. An eight-time All-Star and 2020 NL Player of the Year with Atlanta, he is 7-for-27 (.259) with one RBI and no extra-base hits during the National League playoffs.
“He suffers a lot out there. You can see it when he runs and everything. But he inspires us as players, as a teammate. He’s willing to put his body on the line,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. It’s impressive. It makes us go. We love it when he’s there. He swung well for us. Unfortunately he wasn’t there today, but I know he’ll be back there tomorrow.
New York also changed the formation, starting Harrison Bader in the center of the area on Tyrone Taylor.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Bader had three “really good at-bats” against the Dodgers’ Game 4 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto In April.
Taylor was batting .138 (4-for-29) in the postseason with two doubles, three walks and eight strikeouts. He made a tremendous catch to the warning track in right-center to limit Edman to a sacrifice fly in the top of Game 3.
“Taylor is a great defender. Bader is an elite defender,” Mendoza said. “Again, only three at bat, but I don’t think anyone had such a great champion against Yamamoto. We only met him once. So I decided to go with him.”
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