Freddie Freeman

After having a potential go-ahead homer robbed by Braves left fielder Mauricio Dubón earlier in the contest, Freeman ensured that his next fly ball wouldn’t be caught, tattooing a 399-foot moonshot to right-center field off Atlanta ace Chris Sale to give Los Angeles a three-run advantage in the fourth inning. It was his second round-tripper of the playoffs and 18th career postseason big fly since 2012. The 37-year-old ageless wonder recorded three batted balls with exit velocities over 101 mph against his former team in this one, but only came away with one hit to show for it. The Dodgers have an opportunity to punch their ticket back to the NLCS with a win in Game 4 of the best-of-five series at Truist Park on Wednesday evening.

Even if nothing much else went right for the Dodgers tonight, it was encouraging to see Freeman jump on a Grant Holmes pitch for his first homer since Sept. 2. It was his 17th career postseason homer, tying him for 17th most all-time.

Max Muncy is also taking a seat with lefty Matt Wilkinson serving as San Francisco’s opener. It appears to be a routine off day for Freeman, who missed time with a right knee issue a couple weeks ago. The 37-year-old veteran has already played 152 games this season, hitting .290/.364/.432 with 74 runs scored, 16 homers, 70 RBI and seven steals in 654 plate appearances. It’ll be Enrique Hernández and Miguel Rojas at the infield corners in this one.

It wasn’t exactly vintage Freeman, as he had just one hard-hit ball and that barely rating at 95.8 mph, but he had as many hits as in his previous nine games this month combined. The three tonight put him at 2,590 for his career, tying him with Vladimir Guerrero for 87th place all-time.

Freeman is batting second tonight after getting Monday off to continue to recover from the knee soreness that’s been plaguing him.

As expected, Freeman takes a seat with the Dodgers managing a relatively minor right knee issue that he’s been playing through recently. The 37-year-old first baseman missed a pair of games last week due to the lingering issue, but was feeling much better over the weekend. It’ll be versatile Enrique Hernández taking over at the cold corner in his place on Monday night.

Freeman has started the last two games after sitting with knee soreness Friday, but he hasn’t been himself. Hopefully, it’ll just be one day off. The Dodgers have a very kind schedule with four games in Cincinnati and three at home versus the Giants this week, so it’d be a shame to have to sit Freeman in fantasy leagues. Kiké Hernández will likely start in his place tomorrow.

Freeman celebrates his 37th birthday by returning to first base following a two-game absence due to right knee soreness. He told reporters that he’s feeling much better after getting a couple days off to rest and recover. It doesn’t sound like the lingering knee issue will impact his availability heading into the final two weeks of the regular season. He’s put together another strong year at the plate, slashing .297/.375/.453 with 72 runs scored, 16 homers, 66 RBI and seven steals across 600 plate appearances in 140 games.

Dodgers’ skipper Dave Roberts told reporters that after a long travel day on Thursday, the club wanted to give him an extra day of rest to ensure that his right knee was feeling better. He is tentatively expected to return to the lineup on Saturday.

Freeman missed yesterday’s game with right knee discomfort and was limited to DH on Tuesday. The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya writes that there’s no guarantee he’s back in the lineup on Friday. The best read of this is that he’s day-to-day, but it doesn’t sound like there’s any guarantee he’ll be ready to play this weekend.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Freeman is dealing with a right knee issue, which is why he was at DH earlier this week. The 36-year-old veteran is hitting .136 (3-for-22) with one homer and one steal over his last seven games. It’ll be Enrique Hernández at first base for the second straight contest.

Freeman had been stuck on 15 homers since July 4 before hitting a ball 416 feet tonight. It was his 383rd career homer, moving him past Frank Howard, Ryan Howard and Jim Rice and into a tie with Larry Walker for 74th place all-time. The five times on base moved him past Lou Brock and Fred McGriff into 62nd place all-time at 3,836.

Another nice game means more overtaking Hall of Famers on all-time lists for Freeman. His 579th double broke a tie with Wade Boggs, putting him in 24th place there. He overtook Ernie Banks and moved into a tie with Reggie Jackson for 89th on the hits list at 2,586, and he’s now in 64th place in times on base at 3,830, one more than David Ortiz.

Both of Freeman’s hits were line drive singles, and he also walked once. His RBI tonight was the 1,384th of his career, moving him past Hall of Famer Joe Medwick and into a tie with should-be Hall of Famer Dwight Evans for 82nd on the all-time list. He’s 107 ahead of Paul Goldschmidt for the RBI lead among active major leaguers.

Freeman was banged up a bit as he fell into the Royals’ dugout while chasing a foul popup during Wednesday’s game. He returned to the lineup on Thursday but is still a bit sore so the Dodgers wanted to give him an extra night to rest. He’s considered day-to-day. Enrique Hernandez will start in his place at first base and will bat eighth against Brewers’ southpaw Robert Gasser.

Freeman, who was hurt chasing after a foul popup, said he mostly fell on his left hand and shoulder, but he didn’t expect to need X-rays on anything and is hoping to be in the lineup Thursday.

Freeman stayed in initially after the scary incident, but he didn’t last long. Tommy Edman pinch-hit for him prior to his next at-bat.

Freeman was pulled from Wednesday’s game after being hit on the hand by a pitch, but X-rays came back negative and he was able to avoid any significant injuries. He’s right back in there at first base and batting third for the two-time defending World Champions on Friday evening in Arizona.

Freeman isn’t completely out of the woods, but it sounds like early indications are that he managed to avoid serious injury after being hit by a pitch, which led to his removal from Wednesday’s game against the Cubs. The 36-year-old veteran should benefit from an off-day before the Dodgers kick off a three-game series against the division-rival Diamondbacks on Friday.

Freeman was replaced by Enrique Hernández at first base with the Dodgers trailing by five runs entering the sixth inning. He was 1-for-3 at the dish prior to exiting. It feels like a workload management decision by Los Angeles to get the 36-year-old veteran off his feet in a one-sided affair, but he didn’t exactly look comfortable in his final at-bat. We’ll have updates on the situation as they unfold, especially if Freeman’s exit winds up being injury-related.