Freddie Freeman obviously rejects the conventional wisdom that Globe Life Field isn’t conducive to home runs. Ozzie Albies rejects it, too.
Both players hit their second homer in two nights as the Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-7 Tuesday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series at the Texas Rangers' spacious new stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“Just see the ball, hit it,” Albies said after the game. “You hit it good, the ball is going to travel in any park. That’s all I can say – just put a good swing on it."
Freeman’s homer came in the fourth inning, a two-run shot that was the Braves' first hit of the game. In 74 at-bats across 19 career postseason games before this week, Freeman had hit two home runs. In his first six at-bats across two games this week, he matched that total.
“He just keeps reiterating why he’s the MVP, right?” Braves closer Mark Melancon said. "Freddie is one of the most consistent players I’ve ever seen, that I’ve ever played with, against or been around.
“That’s just who he is. If you had one word to sum him up, it’s consistency.”
Albies added his solo homer in the ninth inning, the second consecutive game in which he homered in the final inning. At the time, it put the Braves ahead by a seemingly comfortable margin of 8-3. It turned out to be the winning run because the Dodgers scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth, the last of them following a two-out error by Albies.
Melancon caught Albies' homer in the bullpen, as he also did the night before.
“Deja vu,” Albies said.
Globe Life Field was ranked the hardest major-league stadium in which to hit home runs this season by ESPN’s “park factor” equation. But in the first two games of the NLCS, the Braves have hit five homers – two by Freeman, two by Albies and one by Austin Riley.
“The balls that were hit were hit. They were clobbered,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who noted the ball seems to carry better with the stadium roof open.
“It’s tough to string hits together in the postseason because the pitching is so darn good,” Snitker said. “Thank God we are hitting some out.”
Freeman, who didn’t have an extra-base hit in the first two rounds of the playoffs, started the Braves' scoring Tuesday with a home run, just as he had done the night before. In Game 1 on Monday, he turned around a 97-mph fastball from Walker Buehler for a first-inning homer. In Game 2, his homer ended a scoreless stalemate between rookie starting pitchers, the Dodgers' Tony Gonsolin and the Braves' Ian Anderson.
The homer came after Gonsolin, who started the game because back spasms sidelined future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, retired the Braves in order in each of the first three innings. Ronald Acuna led off the fourth with a walk, giving the Braves their first baserunner. Then Freeman worked the count full before slamming a 408-foot homer to right field off a down-and-in splitter.
One inning later, in the fifth, Freeman contributed an RBI single to a four-run Braves rally, which also included an RBI double inside the left-field line by 21-year-old rookie Cristian Pache (making his first start of the postseason), a bases-loaded walk by Travis d’Arnaud and a sacrifice fly by Albies. The Dodgers used three pitchers to get out of that inning.
The game also included a painful moment for Freeman, who was hit in the right elbow by an 86-mph changeup from Dodgers reliever (and former teammate) Alex Wood in the top of the eighth inning -- the same elbow on which Freeman had surgery after last season. Freeman remained in the game.
“It stung him pretty good, and he lost feeling," Snitker said. “After he got through that inning and came back in (the dugout), he got all of his strength back and all. He should be OK. We’ll see in the morning.”
By the end of Tuesday night, both teams had put a lot of runs on the board. But for the Braves it all started with Freeman’s blast.
“The guy has had a great year, and he’s just continuing it now,” Snitker said.
