Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman stars on his birthday, leads rout of Padres
LOS ANGELES — On his 34th birthday, Freddie Freeman brought the presents, hitting a home run, matching his season high with four hits and also providing the atmosphere for an 11-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
For a day at work, Freeman’s birthday was pleasantly festive with metallic balloons at his clubhouse locker before the game, a mariachi band serenading him from the left field bleachers in the early innings and an acknowledgment from public address announcer Todd Leitz.
The last act for a celebratory night was right-hander Kyle Hurt coming out of the bullpen in his major-league debut to retire all six batters he faced, including Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Manny Machado in order in the eighth.
Before the game was over “Do the Freddie” from Freddie and the Dreamers provided a bouncy transition into the ninth inning and chants of “Fred-die, Fred-die, Fred-die,” rained down from the stands, with most fans clad in giveaway Freeman jerseys.
“The song … I really don’t know what to make of it,” Freeman said. “But the dance, the crowd, the fans, everywhere we’ve been going on the road, we’ve been having fun as a group this year. I think the fans have noticed that we have been having a lot of fun and they’ve been taking to it. It was fun. It was just a good birthday.”
The attention inspired Freeman to gift wrap a two-run home run to left-center off Padres starter Michael Wacha in the third inning after he scored the first run of the game on a Max Muncy fly ball in the first.
Right-hander Lance Lynn marked the occasion by being stingy toward the Padres. He did give up a home run to increase his major league-leading total to 41, but it was a solo shot by Fernando Tatis Jr. that merely cut the Dodgers’ lead to 7-2. Lynn had given up eight home runs over his previous three outings and six in his past two.
“You look at the last two (starts) and they were ugly. There’s no other way to say it,” Lynn said. “But the offense did a great job of giving me the lead, the defense did a good job behind me and the bullpen needed (a break) so it was a good win all the way around.”
The victory, along with a loss by the Arizona Diamondbacks, reduced the Dodgers’ magic number for clinching the National League West title to five games.
Freeman gave the Dodgers their first hit of the game on a single to center field in the opening inning. He went to third on a Will Smith double and scored when Muncy lifted a fly ball to center.
In the third inning, Kiké Hernandez led off with a single and scored on Freeman’s one-out line drive over the left-center wall, his 26th home run of the season and his first since Aug. 30 against the Diamondbacks.
Lynn loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning on a Juan Soto double, a Manny Machado single and a Xander Bogaerts walk. But he gave up just one run on a Trent Grisham bunt down the third-base line.
“The bunt out was kind of huge,” Lynn said. “They did me a favor. They let me reset and gave me a free out.”
The Dodgers made it sting even further in the bottom of the fourth. After Hernandez singled and Freeman did the same for his third hit, Smith hit a three-run home run to center for a 7-1 lead. It was Smith’s 18th of the season and his first since Aug. 29.
Tatis’ home run off Lynn came with two outs and one batter after center fielder James Outman made a diving catch on a fly ball to shallow center by Jurickson Profar.
RBIs from Chris Taylor and James Outman gave the Dodgers a 9-2 lead in the seventh. A J.D. Martinez single brought home two more in the eighth, including Freeman who now has a career-best 121 runs scored this season.
The large late lead allowed Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to give Hurt his first major league appearance and the San Diego-area native delivered.
Hurt, who didn’t even arrive at the ballpark until 25 minutes before the game started, led the minor leagues in strikeout ratio this season and showed why when he struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth inning.
“Every single guy in the bullpen that talked to me they just said, ‘Be yourself, be yourself. Don’t change a thing,’” Hurt said. “And that’s exactly what I did.”
Freeman called Hurt’s debut hard to put into words. Lynn called it an exciting way to end a “great night.”
“He just didn’t run from the moment,” Roberts said of Hurt. “That was a lane or a run of hitters that he will remember forever. It doesn’t get any better or tougher than that.”