{"id":687859,"date":"2026-03-28T12:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/687859\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T12:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:24:19","slug":"alex-freeland-shows-why-he-made-dodgers-roster-in-win-over-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/687859\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Freeland shows why he made Dodgers’ roster in win over Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Dodger Stadium crowd roared at the sound of contact, cheers growing louder as Kyle Tucker<\/a>\u2019s single made it through the right side of the field and Alex Freeland<\/a> trotted home to finally break a persistent tie.<\/p>\n

In the Dodgers\u2019 5-4 win on Friday night<\/a>, Freeland scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, jump-started the Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 offense in the third inning, and showed off his arm strength in a pair of momentum-changing plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just happy that we\u2019re starting off on a good note, and everybody feels like we\u2019re one,\u201d Freeland said. \u201cIt\u2019s just exciting to play for this team and in front of all these fans. I\u2019m just enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers fell behind 1-0 in the second inning, but the damage could have been worse. With two runners on and two outs, the Diamondbacks\u2019 Alek Thomas lined a double off Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan, into the right-field corner.<\/p>\n

One run was guaranteed Tucker chased down the ball. Then he turned and fired to second, starting a smooth relay through Freeland to throw out Pavin Smith at home to end the inning.<\/p>\n

The next inning, after Sheehan surrendered a solo homer to Ketel Marte, Freeland showed off his bat.<\/p>\n

Coming off a middling spring training from a surface-level results perspective, Freeland immediately fell into a two-strike count in his first at-bat of the season.<\/p>\n

Then he displayed the plate discipline that helped him make the opening day roster.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts celebrates after hitting a three-run homer against Arizona Diamondbacks in the third inning Friday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Freeland worked the count back even and then crushed an inside fastball over the right-field fence to end the Dodgers\u2019 scoreless stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just tried to have a long at-bat, get some more pitches for that inning,\u201d Freeland said. \u201cAnd it led to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two batters later, Mookie Betts<\/a> followed with a three-run homer to put the Dodgers up 4-2.<\/p>\n

In the fourth, the Diamondbacks tacked on two more runs, but again fell prey to a Tucker-to-Freeland relay.<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks again had two runners on for Thomas, and the Dodgers made a pitching change. It didn\u2019t make a difference. Against left-hander Jack Dreyer, Thomas again hit a line drive into the right-field corner.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

This time, two runs scored easily, tying the score. But Tucker and Freeland relayed the ball to third baseman Max Muncy to get Thomas as he tried to stretch his hit into a triple. Dreyer then got out of the inning with a strikeout.<\/p>\n

With those fourth-inning runs charged to Sheehan, he wrapped up his season debut with four earned runs and five hits in 3\u2153 innings. His average fastball velocity was down 1.6 mph compared to last season, according to Statcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt pretty good early, and then I think [my stuff] ticked down a little towards the end,\u201d Sheehan said. \u201cBut still working to try to get the delivery in the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the eighth inning, Freeland lined a double into center field to give the top of the Dodgers\u2019 batting order a runner in scoring position with the score still tied 4-4.<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani grounded out to second base to move Freeland to third. Then Tucker sent him home to give the Dodgers the lead.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

That set up closer Edwin D\u00edaz to make his Dodgers debut. His infamous walk-in music, Timmy Trumpet\u2019s \u201cNarco,\u201d was accompanied by a light show and a live trumpet performance. He recorded the save.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised a little bit,\u201d D\u00edaz said after recording the save. \u201cI heard a trumpet sounding before I was coming out. I said, \u2018No way, they got a live trumpet.\u2019 It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it, and I know fans enjoyed it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vesia makes his season debut \"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers relief pitcher Alex Vesia reacts after striking out Arizona\u2019s Geraldo Perdomo to retire the side in the seventh inning Friday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Left-hander Alex Vesia<\/a> received a loud ovation as he ran to the mound from the bullpen in the seventh inning. He pitched for the first time in the regular season since his newborn daughter died<\/a> in October.<\/p>\n

Dodgers relievers honored Vesia and his family during the World Series by writing his number on their caps.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Vesia threw a scoreless inning. And as he walked off the field, he appeared to acknowledge the crowd and put his hand over his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans have been waiting a long time to show their love for him and [his wife] Kayla, and it meant a lot to him,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe\u2019s an emotional guy. I know fans get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart throws in batting practice<\/p>\n

Right-hander Brock Stewart<\/a> (shoulder surgery recovery) threw the first live batting practice session of his rehabilitation Friday. He estimated he threw 18 pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommand hasn\u2019t been perfect with the bullpens, but it\u2019s coming around,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cAnd today it was another step in the right direction with the command. Velocity was fine, and execution was pretty good. Really I just wanted to feel good, and I did feel good. So, main objective cleared.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he has another live batting practice scheduled for Tuesday in Phoenix and then could begin a rehab assignment, which he expects to be at least two to three weeks long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodger Stadium crowd roared at the sound of contact, cheers growing louder as Kyle Tucker\u2019s single made…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":687860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[127376,32074,1582,276,16102,8329,2442,6682,2091,5605,2961,224,5337,288562,1242,10201,33433,22801,6620,176110],"class_list":["post-687859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-alek-thomas","tag-alex-freeland","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-diamondbacks","tag-dodger","tag-dodgers","tag-eighth-inning","tag-field","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-right-field-corner","tag-roster","tag-run","tag-runner","tag-sheehan","tag-time","tag-vesia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116306789623819147","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}