Two-thousand hits hadn’t been much of a thought in Freddie Freeman’s mind; the hallowed number, and the ultimate goal, is 3,000. But his 6-year-old son, Charlie, kept reminding him about it. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ homestand was coming to an end, a mini slump was prolonging, and Freeman was running out of time. Finally, with two outs in the eighth inning of Sunday’s home finale, it came — a scorching double into the right-center-field gap and career hit No. 2,000, making Freeman the sixth active player to reach the milestone.
He did it in front of his father, who lives only about a 40-minute drive south, and his wife and his three kids, including Charlie — and in front of 47,000-plus people who serenaded him with two standing ovations.
Freeman, 33, joined Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Nelson Cruz, Elvis Andrus and Andrew McCutchen among active players who have accumulated at least 2,000 hits. He became the eighth player to reach that mark in a Dodgers uniform, according to research from Elias Sports Bureau, along with Adrian Gonzalez, Jeff Kent, Tim Wallach, Brett Butler, Gary Carter, Willie Davis and Maury Wills.
Freeman’s hit sparked a rally — cutting the Dodgers’ deficit to two, right before Will Smith’s home run tied it and ultimately forced extras — and came 38 days after his 300th career home run went for a grand slam. Freeman is now the 98th player in baseball history to accrue at least 300 homers and 2,000 hits.
Freeman finished the month of May with the second-highest batting average in the sport, but he had struggled through most of June. Heading into Sunday, his batting average had dropped 30 points, from .346 to .316. Through the first four games this week, he managed only two hits in 14 at-bats, then was retired in his first two plate appearances Sunday, his career total sitting stagnant at 1,998. A six-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger who excelled at driving pitches the other way was getting a little too pull-happy for his liking.