Freeman’s 12 homers not enough vs. Harper in Derby
WASHINGTON
— Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman heard the boos before he even dug into the batter’s box on Monday night.
“It was nice,” Freeman said, grinning as he recalled Nationals fans’ reaction to him being announced during the player introductions. “I figured I’d get a reception like that.”
And while Freeman held his own in his first career T-Mobile Home Run Derby, it wasn’t enough to top hometown hero Bryce Harper. Freeman fell, 13-12, to the Nationals outfielder in the first round of the 2018 Derby at Nationals Park. Harper took the lead with about 30 seconds to go and did not finish his round.
“I’ll take it,” Freeman said. “I knew I was going to be up for a challenge. I was just trying to hit them to right-center, [but] they kept going to leftcenter. I couldn’t figure that out. But I had a lot of fun. That was a blast.”
Harper went on to win the event by defeating the Dodgers’ Max Muncy in the semifinals and the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber in the finals.
Freeman, the top National League AllStar vote-getter, joked earlier in the day that his palms were already sweaty for the looming contest. But he was all smiles on the field on Monday, exchanging a hug with Harper when he was through.
“It’s always fun [to watch Harper hit],” said Freeman, whose longest homer of the night was a projected 437 feet by Statcast™. “Unfortunately, he’s done that in games against us. I knew I was up for a challenge against him. I tried to put some pressure on him, but ultimately I didn’t do enough.”
Freeman said it’s been three years since he hit a homer in batting practice, but the 28-yearold had 16 homers in 94 first-half games. Harper joked before the Derby that Freeman saved a lot of those BP homers for games against the Nationals, a team he’s historically fared very well against.
Despite the NL East rivalry, Freeman and Harper have a good relationship, and Freeman planned on still giving Harper a hard time as they share the same dugout on Tuesday.
“It’s still not going to end,” Freeman said of the trash talking between him and Harper. “I’ll come in tomorrow and say, ‘You got lucky,’ stuff like that.”
The No. 7 seed, Freeman joined Milwaukee’s Jesus Aguilar, Houston’s Alex Bregman and Chicago’s Javier Baez as first-round exits. Braves infield instructor Tomas Perez pitched to Freeman, who is the first Braves player to compete in the Derby since Andruw Jones in 2005.
In other Braves’ news: recent
Braves return to form, close first half with win ATLANTA
— Maybe it was purely coincidental this result was garnered on the same day the top of the lineup was altered. But for the first time in more than a week, the Braves looked much like they had during most of this season’s first half.
Julio Teheran hearkened back to memories of his more consistent days, and the Braves entered the AllStar break riding the high created by Sunday afternoon’s much-needed 5-1 win over the D-backs at SunTrust Park.
“We needed that today,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “We obviously haven’t been playing the way we wanted the last couple weeks. So, to end on a good note for the first half was great.”
Teheran scattered four hits over 6 1/3 scoreless innings, and Freeman provided an RBI double during the decisive third for the Braves, who will now enter the All-Star break feeling better than they had while dropping eight of the 10 games that led up to this series finale against the D-backs.
After an 11-inning win at Yankee Stadium on July 2, the Braves owned the National League’s best record. Their recent struggles knocked them from the top spot in the NL East, but they will enter the second half just a half-game behind the first-place Phillies.
“At the end of March, if somebody would have asked if [I’d take] being 10 games over .500 and a half-game out of first, I wholeheartedly would have,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It was a really solid half. We did a lot of good things. Young guys have taken some huge steps forward.”
While starting pitchers Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb expedited their development in a positive manner, the offense has benefited from the quick rise of Ozzie Albies, who stands as a MVP candidate less than a full calendar year into his Major League career.
Placed back in the leadoff spot for this first-half finale against D-backs AllStar left-hander Patrick Corbin, Albies made his presence known with an RBI infield single during the decisive third. The speedy second baseman drew an errant throw from Jake Lamb and then aggressively took third base. He later scored on Freeman’s double.
Other than to confirm he chose not to play Ender Inciarte against a left-handed starter on Sunday, Snitker did not elaborate on his post-break plans for the leadoff spot. But it goes without saying Inciarte can’t create excitement or serve as a catalyst if he continues to be mired in his current slump. He has batted .176 with a .300 on-base percentage over his past 18 games and has hit just .208 against left-handed pitchers this season.
So, it certainly wasn’t surprising to see Inciarte sit while Albies and Ronald Acuna Jr. filled the lineup’s top two spots against Corbin.