by Cary Osborne
In the third inning, Freddie Freeman took off.
It surprised the Padres. It surprised his manager.
Hours before Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, Dodger manager Dave Roberts didn’t sound certain that Freeman would even be in the starting lineup, as the Dodger first baseman was still recovering from a badly sprained ankle on Sept. 26.
But Freeman struck line-drive singles in each of his first two at-bats on Saturday against San Diego starter Dylan Cease. After the second in the third inning, he took off in an attempt to steal second base.
His front foot got in under the tag of Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth, and the momentum of his body carried him past the bag. Yet he kept a foot on at the completion of the slide for the stolen base.
“The stolen base was just pure luck,” Freeman said.
Freeman said after getting on first base with the single he leaned into Dodger first base coach Clayton McCullough and asked how slow Cease was to home plate.
“I said, ‘Can I go? He said, ‘Can you run? And I just took off,” Freeman said.
Freeman was stranded on second base, as three Dodger batters failed to move him forward. But Freeman, knowing the situation and the Padres thinking he would not run, couldn’t resist. It was a chance to help his team score a run.
“Ninety feet means a lot in this game, especially in the postseason,” Freeman said. “I know I took a big risk with how I’m feeling, but it was just an opportunity presented itself, and I had to go for it.
“If I can’t play the game the right way I shouldn’t be out there.”
On brand for a player who hates being out of the lineup, yet was 15 times in the regular season due to the illness of his son Maximus and the ankle injury suffered on Sept. 26.
Freeman was one of the first players at the ballpark on Saturday and got treatment on the ankle up until game time.
He trotted at half speed out of the batter’s box after his first single. Then he ran out of the box for his second.
Freeman said he was careful to be off his feet as much as possible during the game — hard to do when you’re playing first base.
“He was very gutsy,” said manager Dave Roberts. “He just willed himself into the lineup.
“I just really have so much respect for him — finding a way to play and be there for his teammates. He swung the bat really well tonight. And I didn’t expect the stolen base. And it’s one of those things you get these guys that are in compete mode, and they just don’t know anything else. So I was just grateful we survived that I don’t know if (you’d call it) a slide or a collision with the bag.”
Freeman said Saturday night he didn’t know how he’d feel the next day after playing in a game for the first time in nine days. The injury, he was informed, is the type that would usually require a four-to-six-week, injured-list stint.
But he said he’d probably be the first player at the stadium on Sunday and going through his treatment plan.
His intent is always to play.
NLDS: Gutsy Freddie Freeman can’t resist opportunity to lift his team was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.