'Steady Freddie' homers twice in Dodgers' Texas-sized rout

ARLINGTON -- Prior to Saturday’s 16-3 win over the Rangers, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was joking that he had given his first baseman a hard time about the 2020 National League Championship Series when the club arrived in Texas.

That series pitted Roberts’ Dodgers against Freddie Freeman’s Braves, and Los Angeles won in seven games. Because it took place during the pandemic-shortened season, each contest was played at Globe Life Field, where the Dodgers returned this weekend for the first time since winning the World Series that fall.

“I do believe I was giving Freddie a ribbing about beating them here in ’20, when he was with the Braves,” Roberts said with a smile.

Back in the same venue three years later, Roberts was glad Freeman was wearing Dodger blue this time. The 2020 NL MVP launched two homers to go along with two singles in fueling Los Angeles’ second straight rout in Texas and sixth win on its current nine-game road trip to open the second half of the season.

After singling in the first inning, Freeman smashed a solo homer just inside the right-field foul pole in the third. He delivered an encore performance in the fourth with a two-run shot to right, a soaring drive for his 20th homer of the season. He singled again for good measure in the eighth.

With his prolific day, Freeman is batting .438 with six home runs over his last 12 games, a span over which the Dodgers are 10-2 and have gone from 2 1/2 games back of first place in the NL West to four games up on the Giants and D-backs. He also became the first player in Dodgers history to have at least 20 home runs and 35 doubles before the end of July.

Perhaps even more incredibly: according to OptaSTATS, Freeman became the first player in AL/NL history with 20-plus homers, 35-plus doubles, 125-plus hits, 10-plus steals and 40-plus walks before Aug. 1.

“I just feel like I’m not missing the pitches I should be hitting,” Freeman said. “I think we’re all gonna go through courses throughout the season where we foul off pitches and stuff like that, but … right now, I’m hitting the pitches I’m supposed to hit.”

Just call him “Steady Freddie,” because his mere presence in the lineup is a formidable force propelling an offensive juggernaut. That firepower at the plate has played a major role in masking the pitching-depth issues the Dodgers have faced all season, particularly in the starting rotation.

“He’s already obviously an elite player, one of the best hitters in the game,” Roberts said. “ … So when he’s on one of these heaters, man, you just kind of sit back and enjoy. And everyone’s following suit.”

“Follow suit” is exactly what the rest of the lineup did in producing double-digit runs for the third time in four games.

Max Muncy belted his 23rd home run of the season with a solo shot in the third inning, also doubling home another run in the eighth. J.D. Martinez hit his 24th of the year, a three-run shot in the fourth before adding a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

David Peralta was 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs, and James Outman added an RBI single.

In the ninth, Jonny Deluca hit his second career homer, a three-run blast to left-center. Deluca’s back-to-back sensational catches in center field on Friday highlighted another reason the Dodgers have been successful despite injuries ravaging the pitching staff: contributions from unlikely sources.

There were contributions up and down the lineup, and starter Bobby Miller, who threw six innings of three-run ball, took a positive step in his development. But this day belonged to the always-dependable Freeman, who used to give his manager nightmares.

Not anymore.

“Now he’s in our uniform,” Roberts said. “So I sleep a little bit better, yeah.”