Freddie Freeman had some flu symptoms on the Braves’ day off Tuesday and was still feeling it a bit a day later, but the first baseman was in the lineup Wednesday night for the second game against the Nationals.
“I don’t know if it’s the flu,” said Freeman, who wore batting gloves in the clubhouse Wednesday afternoon to avoid spreading it through handshakes. “(Nick) Markakis was sick as the end of spring training, I think I caught it a little bit. Just waking up I had a cough (Tuesday), woke up in sweat.
“Just one of those things. I feel a little better today. I feel alright, just a little under the weather. But I’ll have enough energy by 7 o’clock.”
The Braves and their No. 2 starter had a matchup Wednesday with Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, was 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 20 strikeouts and two walks in 18 innings over his past three starts against the Braves. Before that stretch, Strasburg was 3-7 with a 4.61 ERA in his first 16 starts against Atlanta.
Freeman is one of the Braves who’s hit well against Strasburg, including early in the pitcher’s career when a Braves team with mostly different personnel (other than Freeman) lit up the right-hander multiple times.
Freeman was 12-for-28 (.429) with three homers, six walks and a .500 OBP against him before Wednesday, and also hit a homer in the first inning of a spring-training game against Strasburg last month.
“He has dominant stuff,” Freeman said. “He’s a premiere pitcher. Obviously we did have his number for a few times, but if we can just get to him early I think we’ll be OK. Bud pitched great in spring training. So if he gives us a chance to win I think you’re going to see us like we did on Monday, where we have a chance to win at the end of the game.”
