Freddie Freeman is back in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup for Friday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Freeman returns after missing the entire series with the Baltimore Orioles because of the hairline fracture in his right middle finger.
The Dodgers provided Freeman with a break this week in hopes of allowing some of the discomfort to subside and with the pivotal National League West matchup in mind. Their expectation is Freeman will now resume playing without interruption.
Freeman sustained the injury on Aug. 17 and in total has missed four games because of the injury. He’s just 3-for-23 with one double, one RBI, two walks and seven strikeouts since suffering the fracture.
Freeman and the Dodgers look to provide run support for Clayton Kershaw in his seventh start of the season. Kershaw is 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA and 1.41 WHIP thus far.
However, he’s fared much better in four starts during August, going 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA while facing the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays.
Kershaw is a lifetime 8-11 with a 3.91 ERA in 22 starts at Chase Field. It’s the only ballpark Kershaw has a career losing record at.
The Diamondbacks counter with ace Zac Gallen, who is 10-6 with a 3.65 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Gallen is coming off six shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox last week.
He struggled in a start at Dodger Stadium earlier this year, allowing three runs over just four innings pitched.
The Diamondbacks remain without Christian Walker and Ketel Marte because of respective injuries.
Arizona has won five of nine head-to-head meetings so far this year, but Los Angeles did win the three-game series at Chase Field from April 29-May 1. Their lone loss during that stretch was in extra innings.
Despite the National League West implications with the wraparound series and potential to swing a tiebreaker, many with the Dodgers are not making more of the matchup.
“We’ve faced these guys a lot. They know what we have and we know what they have. I think the biggest thing is execution, who is going to execute better,” Blake Treinen said.
“Baseball from top to bottom is just so much deeper than it’s probably been in a lot of years. You respect the opponent, you go in there knowing you have to execute. If you want to be the best, you have to compete against the best teams. I think we just go in and execute the way we know how, and trust that every aspect of the game is in a good spot.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts added, “I just want to play good baseball. I think that’s the bar and gear that I’m looking for, and to kind of sustain that. Over the last two weeks, I don’t know what the win-loss is, but I think we’re playing good baseball.
“And those other two teams are playing even better baseball, or winning more games. But I’m pleased with how we’ve been playing and I just want to sustain that to the end of the season.”
Dodgers lineup
DH: Shohei Ohtani
RF: Mookie Betts
1B: Freddie Freeman
LF: Teoscar Hernández
2B: Gavin Lux
C: Will Smith
3B: Max Muncy
CF: Tommy Edman
SS: Miguel Rojas
Diamondbacks lineup
SS: Geraldo Perdomo
DH: Randal Grichuk
LF: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
1B: Josh Bell
CF: Jake McCarthy
3B: Eugenio Suárez
RF: Corbin Carroll
2B: Kevin Newman
C: Jose Herrera
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