LOS ANGELES — First baseman Freddie Freeman is out of the Dodgers lineup on Wednesday against the Reds whille dealing with a neck stinger that has bothered him for a few days. Also out of the lineup is Alex Call, who left Tuesday’s game with lower back pain.
“He’s got a neck stinger that kind of went to his shoulder on the right side.” manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday. “Just giving him a couple of days, with the off day tomorrow, and he’ll be back in there on Friday.”
Freeman had started the last
48 games for the Dodgers, with his last day off coming June 29 in Kansas City. He homered twice on Sunday in San Diego and doubled in each of the first two games against the Reds. Freeman’s seven home runs this August match his most in a month in his four seasons with the Dodgers, hitting .319/.379/.626 for the month.
Kiké Hernández starts at first base in place of Freeman on Wednesday. The right-handed hitting Call was going to start against Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo in the series finale, but tweaked his back running from second to third. Roberts said it was sacroiliac joint discomfort for Call, who is considered day-to-day.
“It’s something he’s dealt with before. Played through worse, he said,” Roberts said of Call. “We just felt it would be safe to not play him tonight.”
On the rehab front, reliever Michael Kopech and infielder/outfielder Hyeseong Kim are expected to be activated off the injured list next week when the Dodgers are on the road in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. That’s after September 1, when active roster limits expand from 26 to 28 players and from 13 to 14 pitchers.
Kopech, on the 60-day injured list after right knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, has pitched in five games in this current rehab assignment for Triple-A Oklahoma City, the last four of them scoreless. “He’s trending in the right direction,” Roberts said.
Kim since joining the Comets on a rehab assignment has at least one hit in alll five games, and has played shortstop twice, left field, center field, and designated hitter. He’s been out since July 29 with left shoulder bursitis.
