Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman Opens Up About Missed Games: ‘It’s Been A Lot The Last Six Weeks’

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman returned as he had never left Friday, hitting a two-run home run in the Dodgers’ 10-9 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Freeman had missed the Dodgers’ three games prior due to a fractured finger he sustained earlier in August while trying to field a ground ball.

Saturday, he homered in the first inning , his 19th of the season.

After missing one game following the injury, Freeman originally planned not to miss any others and intended to play through the pain. That plan did not last, as the Dodgers kept Freeman out of the lineup three times this week to “calm” his finger down.

Freeman is reluctant to stay out of games. He rarely misses more than four games in a season and even played in 161 of 162 games a year ago. But his finger needed the time off, which Freeman recognizes now.

“Once I got into the break, that’s when I was like, ‘You know what, I think it’s time to just shut it off for a second,’ ” Freeman said, via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register . “We all have things going on in our lives. It’s been a lot the last six weeks.”

“Throwing was the 10 out of 10 [pain] for me last week,” Freeman said. “I wasn’t expecting that at all. I thought it would be gripping and swinging. But throwing the ball, coming off the middle finger, I was not ready for that. I didn’t know that was going to hurt that bad. I feel better than I did last week.”

Freeman has gone through a lot over the past six weeks. Prior to the finger injury, he missed eight games while he took time to be with his family as his son, Max, battled a rare case of Guillain-Barré Syndrome. When Max improved enough to return home from the hospital, Freeman came back to the team.

Not long after coming back, Freeman sustained the finger injury when he jammed the finger fielding a grounder. The 34-year-old has managed to overcome the obstacles that have plagued him since the All-Star break so far.

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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