With two outs in the bottom of the second inning of Game-2 of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium and the game tied 2-2, and with Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux on second base, D-backs manager Torey Lovullo elected to have his right-handed starter Merrill Kelly intentionally walk Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman. And while this was unquestionably the right move under normal circumstances (i.e., to set up a force at any base), it brought the Dodgers best hitter, shortstop Trea Turner, to the plate.

Turner promptly lined a base hit to center to score Muncy and a deflected throw allowed Freeman to take third, and the next batter, Dodgers designated hitter Edwin Ríos, crushed Kelly’s 91.2-mph slider into the seats in left-center field for a three-run home run to make it a 6-2 ballgame.

The Dodgers would go on to beat the NL West fourth place Diamondbacks by a score of 12-3.

After the game, Freeman was asked about the suddenly-hot-hitting Dodgers offense.

“It’s from pitch one, the opposing starter is on edge right when he toes the rubber,” Freeman said. “You have to be ready from pitch one, and to be mentally in it every single pitch is hard as a pitcher to have to make a perfect pitch to every guy. When you have a lineup like we do, that’s what you have to do and if you don’t, we’re going to get you.”

“I kind of get used to it right-on-right,” Freeman answered, when asked if he was surprised by the intentional walk with several big bats behind him in the order. “You [the pitcher] don’t want to put yourself in that situation, but the batting title champion behind you, it’s kinda nice. It’s okay to get an intentional walk, especially one that ends up helping us in the long run.”

Freeman came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning with the bases loaded, to which he admitting that he tried to appease the nearly sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd chanting “Fred-die, Fred-die, Fred-die,” on his first swing of the at-bat. But when he swung and missed on that one, he immediately went back into Freddie mode and hit a ground rule double to left – his second of three doubles on the night – and had to settle for only two RBIs and finished the night with three total.

As for Trea Turner and thanks to the IBB of Freeman, he finished the night with four RBI. In other words, it’s ‘Pick your poison‘ with this ridiculously potent Dodgers offense.

Play Ball!

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