The Dodgers may have finished off the Royals, but the night turned tense when Freddie Freeman tumbled into the visitor’s dugout while chasing a pop-up drifting toward foul territory.
Freeman kept tracking the ball all the way toward the dugout steps, then his left foot slipped on the second step and sent him faceplanting into the dugout. Miguel Rojas hurried down the steps, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts plus a trainer raced over to check on the All-Star first baseman. Freeman stayed in the game at first, but Tommy Edman pinch-hit for him to open the bottom of the eighth inning.
After the win, Roberts said head athletic trainer Thomas Albert texted him to say Freeman was dealing with a sore shoulder, hand, knee and foot.
“But I think we really dodged a bullet,” Roberts added. “Very scary visually.
I didn’t really get a good look at it. I think right now, in good spirits, which I think is a good sign.
“Just total body soreness right now, so it will be day-to-day. He was going to be down on Friday, and I’ll just kind of get with him [Thursday] and see how he is.”
Freeman did not get X-rays after the game.
“I didn’t hit my head, so that was the key part there,” Freeman said while speaking with media after Roberts did. “I am sore.
Kneecaps are sore, shoulder is sore, hand is sore, wrist sore. I mean, I fell.
I’m in good spirits.
“I’ve already cold tubbed and done everything I needed to do to put myself in a position to hopefully be able to play [Thursday]. I just talked to Doc, Andrew (Friedman), Gomer (Brandon Gomes) and everybody in there, so we’ll just see how I feel tomorrow when I wake up.
“I think I already was going to have Friday off, so we’ll just see how I feel when I wake up. But right now I’m just sore.”
Freeman also said he thought he’d be near part of the dugout that still had railing, which would have given him something to lean on while making the play. “Obviously, there was no rail,” Freeman he said with a laugh.
For the Dodgers, the encouraging part is that Freeman appears to have avoided a serious injury. Even so, his status could linger into the weekend as the club prepares for a National League Championship Series rematch with the Milwaukee Brewers.
In Other News...
Dodgers Suddenly Face A Freddie Freeman Injury Concern
Freddie Freemans night against the Royals took an uneasy turn when the Dodgers first baseman tumbled into the dugout while chasing a foul ball, then stayed in the game long enough to keep giving Los Angeles a brief sense of relief. The play looked worse than the immediate aftermath suggested, but the real concern arrived later, when Freeman was pulled because of soreness after the collision.
The early read is encouraging enough for the Dodgers to exhale, even if only a little. The discomfort has been centered mostly in Freemans left shoulder, and manager Dave Roberts said the club dodged a bullet, but the bigger question now is how Freeman responds once the adrenaline fades and the team checks him again. [Read more 🡒]
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For a Dodgers lineup that always draws attention, Pages is the sort of bat who can get overlooked until the conditions line up just right. The broader home run card for the day also includes Luis Garcia Jr. and Kyle Schwarber, but Pages case rests on the combination of form, context and the opposing pitcher, giving the Dodgers another reminder that not every power angle comes from the biggest name in the order. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Make Another Catcher Move As Bigger Questions Linger
The Dodgers have added another layer of depth behind the plate, signing veteran catcher Chadwick Tromp to a minor league contract and sending him to Triple-A Oklahoma City. It is the kind of roster move that can look minor on paper but matters to a club that is always trying to keep its catching pipeline stocked, especially with a major league staff that tends to value options and experience.
Tromp brings parts of seven big league seasons with him, and his recent stops in the Braves and Orioles organizations make him a familiar type of insurance for a team that has already cycled through catching depth this year. The addition follows the release of Chuckie Robinson, leaving the Dodgers with another fresh name in the system, while the larger question of how they want to manage the position behind their big league catchers remains in the background. [Read more 🡒]