Each time Freddie Freeman came to bat, the chants started among the many groups of schoolchildren at Turner Field for the Thursday afternoon game.
“Fred-die! Fred-die!”
Freeman kept giving them what they wanted.
Freeman’s two-run homer in the third inning put the Braves ahead for good in a 7-2 victory over the Reds. After hitting for the cycle during Wednesday’s 13-inning victory over the Reds, Freeman was 3-for-4 in the series finale.
“I am finally getting some things to fall,” Freeman said. “I’ve been working pretty hard. Its’ nice to finally get some results, especially on back-to-back days. Hopefully that can continue this weekend in New York.”
The Braves (20-46) are at the Mets on Friday to start a five-game trip that concludes in Miami. They headed there after their league-worst offense erupted for a total of 25 runs with 43 hits and 17 non-intentional walks in four games against the Reds (26-41).
Freeman’s production, streaky for much of the season, was back on the upswing against the Reds. He was 10-for-18 with two doubles, a triple, three home runs and six RBIs in the series.
Freeman is the first Braves player with 10 hits in a series since he had 10 in a four-game set against the Pirates in July 2011.
“He’s on one of his tears,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “I’ve seen it before.”
The Braves roughed up Thursday’s Reds starter, right-hander Dan Straily, for six runs over 4 1/3 innings. It was Straily’s shortest outing in 12 starts this season.
Straily retired six of the first seven batters he faced and had a 2-0 lead when the Braves got to him in the third inning. Chase d’Arnaud hit a leadoff double, went to third on Matt Wisler’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Mallex Smith’s single.
Freeman followed with his 12th home run of the season and third in the past four games. During last weekend’s three-game series against the Cubs, Freeman had just one hit and a walk in 13 plate appearances to drop his season numbers to .242 with a .336 on-base percentage and .414 slugging percentage.
The four-day surge against the Reds lifted those numbers to .265/.355/.478.
“I’ve been swinging at a lot of pitches outside the zone,” Freeman said. “I’ve been really trying to get good pitches to hit and not just going up there and trying to swing and hit the ball hard. Put one of my best swings on it and hit it up the middle.”
Freeman’s home run put the Braves up for good. Right fielder Nick Markakis added a two-run double in the fifth and scored on Jace Peterson’s single that extended the lead to 6-2.
Braves right-hander Matt Wisler limited the Reds to two runs over 6 2/3 innings while stranding six base runners. It was an encouraging outing for Wisler after he allowed a total of 13 runs over eight innings during his previous two starts.
The Braves won as many as two games in a row for just the fifth time this season and had their best four-game offensive stretch of the season.
“Hitting is contagious,” Freeman said. “It’s definitely been like that the last couple days, so hopefully that continues this weekend against a tough matchup.”
