Freddie Freeman was out of the Braves lineup for a third consecutive game Saturday with right-wrist injury, increasing the likelihood that he could miss the entire weekend series against the Mets.
Since the Braves have a scheduled day off Monday, a decision could be made to have Freeman sit out Sunday’s game as well, which would give him nearly six days of rest from when he got a cortisone shot in the sprained wrist Wednesday night until the Braves’ series opener Tuesday night at Washington.
He got in an injection Wednesday at about 8:30 p.m., after leaving a game against the Red Sox in the seventh inning when the pain he’d been playing with intensified to the point where he couldn’t swing the bat effectively.
Freeman initially injured the wrist on a swing during a game against the Mets a week ago, but continued to play.
He was told after getting the shot of cortisone – an anti-inflammatory steroid – that it usually took 48-72 hours for the medication to deliver its full effect.
Freeman said Friday that he had made progress since Thursday, but that the wrist was still sore. When he reported to Turner Field early Saturday to have it checked and receive more treatment, the wrist hadn’t improved significantly.
“Same as yesterday,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday afternoon. “He came in, tried it, and we decided not to put him in the lineup. Same as yesterday.”
Was the wrist any better?
“I’m going to say yes, but not much better,” Gonzalez said. “Not enough improvement that we feel comfortable that if we run him in there and he gets a check swing, he’s not going to hurt himself.
“If push comes to shove, if he feels the same, give him tomorrow off and we’ve got Monday (off),” Gonzalez said. “But we’ll play it by ear. I don’t want to — and he doesn’t want to, and the trainer doesn’t want to — put him in there too early and then all of a sudden he gets a check swing and we’re back not even square one, we’ve got a real setback.”
Gonzalez reiterated what Freeman said Friday, that a stint on the 15-day disabled list was not being considered at this point.
“I was really close yesterday to putting him in there for (late-innings) defense,” Gonzalez said, “and I didn’t because in a one-run game, if we go extra innings or something he’s going to have to come up to hit, and I didn’t want to put him in that situation where he could hurt himself more.”
Freeman played in 234 consecutive games, including 233 starts, before missing Thursday’s game against Boston.
