First baseman Freddie Freeman is scheduled to play three injury-rehab games for Triple-A Gwinnett this weekend and could rejoin the Braves on Monday in Colorado.
On the 15-day disabled list recovering from a strained oblique muscle, Freeman is set to take batting practice and infield with Gwinnett before its home game Thursday, then travel to Charlotte with the team to play in a three-game weekend series beginning Friday. He’s eligible to come off the DL Monday.
The Braves have a four-game series at Pittsburgh through Sunday, then three games at Colorado and three at Detroit.
“If everything goes well, I’ll fly to Denver on Monday,” Freeman said.
It was in Denver where his vision problems arose last season in early May. He couldn’t keep his eyes moist in windy conditions in low humidity at high altitude, and had difficulties for months afterward. Freeman finally found a pair of contacts and lens drops that work for him, and he’s wearing clear, non-prescription glasses to keep out irritants.
“Let’s just hope that’s a good place to hit and my eyes stay good,” he said. “That’s the plan, barring no setbacks (with the oblique). But I feel great. Ramped it up even more today in the cage. Hopefully tomorrow everything will go well on the field.”
Upton's eighth: Justin Upton's majors-leading eighth homer Tuesday in the Braves' 13th game made him the fastest in franchise history to hit eight. Three others did it in 16 team games: Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones, and Andruw Jones. With Arizona in 2012, Upton hit his eighth homer on July 20 in his 87th game and the team's 93rd game.
Minor's run: Braves pitcher Mike Minor lost Wednesday to Kansas City despite allowing only one run and five hits in six innings. He's now 9-5 with a 2.00 ERA in 18 starts since the beginning of July.
In his five losses and four no-decisions during that period, the Braves scored one or no runs while Minor was in seven of those nine games, including Wednesday’s 1-0 loss. The left-hander has allowed 78 hits, 25 earned runs and 19 walks with 89 strikeouts in 112-2/3 innings over his past 18 starts.
