Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman looks forward to a rematch against his former teammate Alex Wood.
Wood, who pitched for the Braves from 2013-15, takes the mound Thursday in a game that will determine who wins the season series between the Braves and Dodgers.
The Braves traded the former University of Georgia star to the Dodgers two seasons ago. Wood has emerged as one of the better pitchers in the National League, earning his first All-Star nod and collecting a 2.38 ERA.
“It’s been incredible,” Freeman said. “I wish we still had him. I’m just happy for him. You can see the great stuff. You know he’s got a weird delivery that’s very deceptive. He’s a good, good guy. So I’m happy that he’s flourishing in L.A. on the big stage.
“Hopefully he’s not good tonight though.”
The Braves would take a repeat of Wood’s performance against them July 21 in Los Angeles. Previously 11-0 with a 1.56 ERA, Wood was tagged for nine runs in a 12-3 loss.
Freeman didn’t see anything particularly wrong with Wood that night. The Braves just took advantage of his mistakes.
“I can’t speak for everybody else, but my approach, you see the ball, you see a strike and you try to swing and hit it,” Freeman said. “He left a few pitches out over the plate. I got one, obviously the big blow was the Jaime Garcia (grand slam). I think that’s just one of those things. … We weren’t doing anything different. He just made some mistakes and we hit them.”
Wood’s ready to avenge that loss, and he’s excited to take the SunTrust Park mound for the first time.
“Well, I haven’t done too good so far,” Wood said of facing the Braves. “Hopefully I’ll figure them out on Thursday. But it’s always fun coming back. They’ve got a great staff over there, still a lot of guys left that I’m friends with. So it’s always fun coming back to Atlanta, and then also when they come to L.A. seeing them, getting to talk and catch up. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Freeman led off the fifth inning with a solo homer in his last at-bat against Wood. And he’s going to try to do it again Thursday night.
“We text every once and a while,” Freeman said. “After I hit the home run, the next day he text me and said ‘That’s the only one you’re ever allowed to hit off me.’ Hopefully I can make that text not true today.”
