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One day after taking a hit by pitch off his wrist, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is in the lineup and batting cleanup.
Freeman left the Dodgers' 6-5 loss on Sunday to the Milwaukee Brewers after the incident, which manager Dave Roberts initially admitted was cause for concern. The 2025 National League All-Star was 0-2 with a pair of strikeouts when Hyeseong Kim replaced him as a pinch runner.
“He just doesn't come out of games,” Roberts said, per MLB.com's Sonja Chen. “I didn't know why he was walking toward me. Then hearing him saying that it was his wrist and he can't continue. So yeah, really worried, and typically it's the other way around.”
Freeman underwent x-rays after the game, which came back negative, clearing the way for him to return to the lineup Monday against the Minnesota Twins.
“That one, I held my breath. I think we all did,” Roberts added. “When you're scuffling, and to potentially lose a guy for four to six weeks, is obviously very scary. But exhale, sigh of relief after hearing that it was negative. To lose him longer would've been really tough to overcome. We dodged a bullet there.”
It was almost the icing on the cake for what has been a frustrating two months for Freeman. Since June 1, he is hitting .199 over 40 games with just 1 home run and a .554 OPS. In that time, his average has dropped from .374 to a still more-than-respectable .292.
And from a team perspective, the timing couldn't have been worse, having just been swept by the Brewers — both in their three-game set coming out of the All-Star break and in the season series. The Dodgers are still in first place in the National League West at 58-42, but they've hardly been the juggernaut that many expected when they spent the offseason after winning the 2024 World Series reloading their roster.
