Immediately following Wednesday night’s exciting come-from-behind 5-3 Dodgers win over the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium, SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo caught up with game hero David Freese and asked the soon-to-be (on April 28) 36-year-old Corpus Christi, Texas native about his game-winning double and about scoring a run in the first inning on an extremely close play at the plate in which Rizzo said that he “looked like a Ninja.” The 11-year MLB veteran utility infielder had a slightly different description of that play.

“Is that what that looked like? I think my fat ass just finally got around him, that’s what it felt like,” Freese replied, drawing a laugh from Rizzo and her crew.

All kidding aside, it was indeed Freese’s two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 Dodgers lead. They would tack on another run in the bottom half of the eighth inning, for a final score of 5-3.

Dodgers left-hander Scott Alexander picking up the win in relief of starter Ross Stripling who, aside from a troublesome fourth inning in which he allowed three runs on four hits while walking one and hitting a batter, was absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, two of those hits in the inning were home runs, while facing the entire Giants lineup in the inning. To his credit and because of the confidence that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has in the 29-year-old Bluebell, Pennsylvania native, Stripling came back out to pitch the fifth and sixth innings, until replaced by Alexander with one out in the seventh.

“It was obviously stressful, the home run by [Steven] Duggar, the [Brandon] Belt homer. Then it just didn’t seem like he was making pitches, but got out of that fourth inning,” Roberts said. “Wanted to see him go out there, try to get into the fifth inning and see where it took us. And so in that fifth inning, ran into the breaking ball again, change-up again, had a big strikeout to Duggar, got some weak contact on the ground ball, so for him to get through the sixth inning, get in six innings was huge for us.”

As it turned out, the Dodgers didn’t rally back until Stripling had already been replaced. As such, it was Alexander who picked up the win, his first of the season. Alexander was relieved by left-hander Caleb Ferguson, who continued in his dominance with a 1-2-3, scoreless eighth inning, needing only six pitches to do so.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen sealed the deal with a 1-2-3 scoreless ninth inning to notch his second save of the season in as many days.

The Dodgers have Thursday off, as they travel to Denver for a three-game series against the Rockies at Coors Field beginning on Friday evening. They will then move on to St. Louis, where they will face longtime nemesis Paul Goldschmidt and the Cardinals for a four-game set before returning home to open a three-game series against the defending National League Central champion Milwaukee Brewers, followed by three against the Cincinnati Reds.

Play Ball!

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