Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte’s hit to lead off the third inning appeared to kick-spin and scoot past Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter. Erick Aybar followed with a ground ball that went over the second base bag, between Carpenter and shortstop Jhonny Peralta, and trickled into the outfield.
Those hits set the table for Braves slugger Freddie Freeman, who didn't need a good bounce. Freeman smashed Carlos Martinez's first pitch well over the "400'" mark on the center field wall for a three-run homer that started the power barrage in a 13-5 victory.
“I knew I got that one,” Freeman said. “I was just trying to get a ball in the air with a guy on third with less than two outs. I haven’t been very good this year with runners in scoring position so it was nice to come through and get us an early lead, and the rest was history. We got a nice offensive output.”
Freeman’s homer, estimated at 448 feet long, put the Braves ahead 4-0. Teammates Adonis Garcia, Ender Inciarte and Matt Kemp later followed suit as the Braves set season-highs for home runs and runs scored.
Freeman went 3-for-3 with two walks.
“It’s kind of like when Freddie goes it kind of relaxes everybody, I think,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “I know he puts a lot of pressure on himself to get it done because he wants to do good for the club.”
Freeman’s 19th homer of the season ended his recent slump. He went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in the series opener against the Cardinals to drop to 1-for-20 with 11 strikeouts over his past five games.
“It’s been a tough week, obviously, but I’ve just got keep grinding,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of rough spells here this year and it always comes back sooner or later. I’m really glad it was today.”
Freeman’s hitting has been unusually streaky this season and his strikeout rates are higher than normal. But he still could finish what would be a typically productive season for him.
Freeman is hitting .280 with a .366 on-base percentage and .699 slugging percentage, numbers that are about on par for him since he’s become a big-league regular.
“It’s just a matter of time with Freddie,” Snitker said. “I think the expectations are always so high for him. We’ve got to remember he’s a human being. He wants to do good. There’s times he goes through (slumps) but he always seems to come out on the other side.”
