While the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani was handcuffed by his former team Friday, Freddie Freeman got the best of the club for which he rooted in his youth.
Freeman hit a game-ending home run in the ninth inning in the host Dodgers’ 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The teams are set to play the middle contest of the three-game series on Saturday.
Freeman has some walk-off home runs on the biggest stage, winning Game 1 of the 2024 World Series with a blast against the New York Yankees and doing it again in the 18th inning of Game 3 in last year’s Fall Classic versus the Toronto Blue Jays.
Friday’s home run was not nearly as historic, but it was a continuation of his revival after a slow start to this season. Freeman was batting .254 with four home runs over his first 45 games this season. Over his last 15 games, he is batting .339 with six home runs.
“Sometimes you just go through stretches where you feel good and obviously I’ve been feeling good lately (after) tweaking a lot of things early on,” Freeman said. “Just trying to find a consistent feel for things and sometimes you get a couple of hits, you get some confidence and you get going.”
Ohtani went 0-for-4 on Friday but he still has five home runs and a .327 batting average in 14 career games against the Angels, with whom he played six seasons before moving to the Dodgers in 2024.
The Dodgers are set to send right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-4, 2.86 ERA) to the mound Saturday. He lost his lone start against the Angels last season when he gave up six runs over 4 2/3 innings.
The Angels will counter with right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (2-4, 5.23).
In two career starts against the Dodgers, Kochanowicz is 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA. He gave up seven runs (six earned) over six innings in a loss to the Dodgers on May 15.
After he was 2-0 with a 3.09 ERA through his first six starts this season, Kochanowicz had a rough May by going 0-4 with a 7.85 ERA over another six outings. In his most recent start Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays, he gave up three runs on five hits with four walks in 2 1/3 innings.
“I started off the game feeling great and then just lost the rhythm,” Kochanowicz said. “Not really sure what it was or why I lost it, but I didn’t make the adjustment I needed to, obviously. It’s tough.”
Said manager Kurt Suzuki: “We feel like right now he’s just got to keep working at it. Maybe not trying to put so much pressure on himself to be so perfect and get back to attack mode.”
Angels left-hander Reid Detmers supplied the blueprint for Kochanowicz by holding the Dodgers scoreless over six innings Friday.
There was just little to no offense for the Angels, who were shut out for the fifth time this season and the second time by the Dodgers.
Zach Neto, Jo Adell and Nick Madrigal each had a hit for the Angels, while Mike Trout went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
The Dodgers are now 4-0 against the Angels this season and have outscored their cross-town foe by a combined 32-3. Just one year ago, the Angels went 6-0 versus the Dodgers.
–Field Level Media
