SAN FRANCISCO – Freddie Freeman was out of the Braves lineup Sunday for the first time since late September 2013, not that he didn't try to talk manager Fredi Gonzalez into changing his mind.
He’s struggled lately, going 6-for-32 (.188) with five walks and 13 strikeouts in the last nine games before Sunday’s series finale against the Giants and left-hander Madison Bumgarner. He struck out three times Saturday.
“I’ve been looking at this for three or four days, maybe even a little longer,” Gonzalez said of resting the two-time All-Star. “Just to give him a day, give him a breather. This guy wants to play every day, but maybe every once in a while just give him a breather, get him going again.”
Freeman entered the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Gonzalez had said he would if they had a lead late. They blew that lead and trailed 5-3 entering the ninth, when Freeman’s homer to center field started a four-run rally that lifted the Braves to a 7-5 win in the series finale, his second homer in three days off closer Santiago Casilla.
Freeman extended his streak to 218 consecutive games played, but the longest active streak of games started now belongs to Texas’ Andrian Beltre (191 games). Freeman’s had started 217 in a row before Sunday.
Freeman wanted to stay in the lineup, and made his case when Gonzalez told him Saturday afternoon of his plan to rest the first baseman the next day.
“It’s just, what if today was a day I was able to lock it in?” Freeman said. “But I’ll take it, and I’ll do everything I can to take my mind off of it. I took the late bus today for the first time. It’s just, do everything you can to mentally turn off for the day. But as soon as the game starts I’ll lock it in, be ready to go in case they need me in the later innings.”
Third baseman Chris Johnson started in place of Freeman at first base, with Juan Uribe making his fourth start at third base in five games since Uribe was traded to the Braves.
“If we’ve got the lead, he’s going to play defensively,” Gonzalez said Sunday morning. “I mean, unless we score 15 or something like that. He’s available. It’s not like he’s got a complete day off and take it to the house, we’ll meet you in Arizona. He’s available, and we’ll plug him in there. If it comes to a situation where we can plug him in there to win a ballgame, he’ll be in there.”
The last time Freeman was out of the lineup was Sept. 23, 2013, a day after the Braves clinched a playoff berth. He not only had started every game since, he also played almost every inning in 2014, setting a franchise record with a majors-leading 1,449 innings played.
If he had to take a day off, then getting a rest with Giants ace Bumgarner on the mound might at least seem a palatable time for it, for most left-handed hitters. But Freeman had a different view of that.
“I’m always one of those guys who, like, I want to play against their best,” said Freeman, who was 5-for-22 with a home run in his career against Bumgarner. “If you’re going to give me a day off, I’d rather take it off against a (number) 4 or 5 (starter), give Chris a better chance to succeed against those guys.
“As a guy that wants to play every day, you want to compete against their best. That was one of my reasons yesterday when I was trying to talk myself in the lineup. But, you know, hopefully if the game’s close I’ll be able to come up big in the situation today.”
Gonzalez said, “He wants to play. And he’s got good reasons for him to want to be in there. I have my reasons also. He was fine with it. Not that he didn’t try to talk me into it. I knew he would.”
Freeman has been streaky all season at the plate, alternating between stretches of hot hitting and slumps with little in-between. He’s not felt right at the plate recently, but snapped a 20-game homerless drought Friday when he hit his sixth of the season, to straightaway center in the ninth inning at AT&T Park. For a moment, he thought he might have gotten his swing back.
“I thought I did, but yesterday it was just the complete opposite of what I felt on that swing,” said Freeman, who was 1-for-5 with three strikeouts Saturday. “It’s just peaks and valleys right now. Hopefully I’ll be able to find that middle ground, maybe in flips (balls flipped to hitters in the batting cage) today when I don’t have to think about playing, maybe something will show up and I can put it in against the Diamondbacks.”
