Braves win on Freeman’s walk-off homer in 11th

Braves slugger Freddie Freeman went to bat in the bottom of the 11th inning against Giants reliever Derek Law with no specific strategy in mind.

“Did I look like I had a game plan all night?” Freeman asked rhetorically, referring to his line of 0-for-3 with three strikeouts to that point.

It turned out Freeman didn’t need much of a plan. He smacked Law’s first pitch over the wall in right-center field for a 5-4 victory over the Giants on Wednesday at Turner Field.

Freeman’s shot lifted the Braves to their fourth victory in sixth games.

“I was just trying to get a strike,” Freeman said. “I was swinging at balls all day, it seemed like, everything outside. I was just trying to get the foot down and swing at a strike and he hung the curveball.”

The Braves (16-36) won two of the first three games against the Giants (33-22). With a victory in Thursday’s finale the Braves would win back-to-back series for the first time this season.

Freeman’s winning homer turned his bad night into a great one. He’d struck out against Giants closer Santiago Casilla with the Braves trailing 4-3 in the ninth inning but his teammates rallied to tie the score.

Casilla followed by hitting Garcia with a pitch, and then Nick Markakis dumped a single into shallow left field as Garcia hustled to third. With Kelly Johnson at bat, Casilla threw the wild pitch that scored Garcia before retiring Tyler Flowers and Chase d’Arnaud to force extra innings.

Freeman delivered when got his another chance.

“I had a really good feeling right there because that’s just really where he shines,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “He didn’t have a really good night but, man, he came up big there.”

It was third career walk-off homer for Freeman. The Braves last had a game-ending RBI when A.J. Pierzynski singled to beat the Phillies on Sept. 20, 2015.

Freeman has had an unusually volatile season at the plate. He began the year 2-for-25 before going on a tear for about a month in which he had a .983 on-base plus slugging percentage. In the past 18 games before Wednesday he hit .192 (14-for-73) overall and 2-for-25 with runners in scoring position.

“Hopefully the roller coaster is going up now,” Freeman said. “It’s been on the down for a while so hopefully it bottomed out and can go back up.”

The Braves’ comeback broke up another anemic offensive effort. After old pro Jake Peavy shut down the Braves on Tuesday, it looked as if Giants rookie right-hander Albert Suarez might follow him and do the same.

Peavy limited the Braves to a hit over seven innings and they had one hit through five innings against Suarez on the only ball to leave the infield. The Giants took a 4-1 lead against Braves right-hander Williams Perez before the Braves finally put real pressure on Suarez.

Pinch hitter Chase d’Arnaud doubled off of the left-field wall to lead off the sixth inning and Mallex Smith followed with a triple. After Ender Inciarte walked, Giants manager Bruce Bochy called on George Kontos from the bullpen with Suarez’s pitch count at 76. Kontos got Gordon Beckham to ground into a double play that scored Smith to pull the Braves within 4-3.

The Braves had another chance to come back in the eighth inning when Chase d’Arnaud and Jeff Francoeur hit back-to-back, one-out singles. Inciarte then hit a ground ball to third baseman Matt Duffy, who forced out d’Arnaud, but Inciarte reached base on Duffy’s high throw.