Freeman leaves Game 2 with right ankle discomfort

Yesterday at 09:53 PM

Dodgers first baseman started again in Game 2 but exited after five innings. He sprained the right ankle on September 26.

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman played through the pain of his sprained right ankle in all of Game 1 of the NLDS, and started Game 2. But he left Sunday's contest after five innings with more right ankle discomfort.

Freeman in Game 2 struck out in the first inning, and then hit a 111.4-mph line drive in the fourth that Fernando Tatis Jr. snagged on the run in right field.

After being a relatively late addition to the starting lineup in the opener on Saturday, Freeman in the lineup in Game 2 was an easier decision for Dave Roberts after two hits in Game 1.

"I think that he is in the same spot, but I do feel that there's a little more comfort in Freddie, for Freddie, and knowing kind of where the floor is at for him," Roberts said before the game. "I think feeling how he felt, how he feels today, he feels that he can get through today and manage it."

Instead, for the bottom of the fifth inning, Freeman was out of the game. Max Muncy moved from third base to first base, where he was a Gold Glove finalist in 2021 but since then has only played five innings in three games in reserve at the position, all in 2022. Muncy has been taking grounders at first base this week in preparation.

Kiké Hernández entered the game at third base, in Freeman's third spot in the batting order.