Inside The Dodgers

Dodgers' Freddie Freeman Out of Lineup Again; Will He Play in This Series?

J.P. Hoornstra|
Aug 9, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a solo home run in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 9, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a solo home run in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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Los Angeles Dodgers

Freddie Freeman followed up his rare day off Monday with another one on Tuesday.

Now, the Dodgers' All-Star first baseman appears doubtful to play in the series against the Baltimore Orioles.

Kiké Hernández is starting at first base against the Orioles for the second straight day and just the third time this season.

Freeman has been dealing with a hairline fracture on the middle finger of his right hand since last week.

“We don’t want this thing to linger,” Roberts told reporters Monday, including Eric Stephen of TrueBlue LA. “If we can get it to calm down, we’ll be in a better spot.”

With a left-handed starter, Cole Irvin, on the mound Tuesday, Teoscar Hernández (a right-handed hitter) moved up in the lineup and batted third.

With right-hander Corbin Burnes on the mound Wednesday, Gavin Lux is batting third and Teoscar Hernández is batting fourth. It's the ninth time this season Lux has occupied the number-3 spot in the order.

As of Monday, the Dodgers had no plans to put Freeman on the injured list. He originally sustained the fracture Aug. 17 during a 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, jamming his middle finger going for a ground ball. He did not play the following day, butreturned to the lineup that Monday, opting to play through the fracture and pain.

Freeman proceeded to go 3 for 23 with two doubles and seven strikeouts in the next six games.

Freeman is famously difficult to extract from the lineup, having missed just four games across his first two years in Los Angeles. He was healthy when he missed eight games to be with his family while his son, Max, battled a rare case of Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Freeman returned to the Dodgers on Aug. 5, after Max's condition improved.

The 34-year-old is in his third season with the Dodgers after signing a six-year, $162 million deal with the team in March 2022. This year, Freeman is slashing .284/.382/.475 with 17 home runs and 73 RBIs. He is third on the Dodgers this season in hits, home runs, and RBIs, second in runs, and first in doubles.

Although Freeman can play through the injury, the Dodgers might ultimately decide it's not in his or the team's best interest to avoid the injured list. For all the importance the team has placed on a deep October run, they still must contend with a tight division race.

The Dodgers enter Wednesday's game leading the San Diego Padres by three games in the National League West.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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