Why Dodgers almost put Freddie Freeman at third base in walk-off win over Marlins

With the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth Monday night, Freddie Freeman had a simple request for Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel during a mid-inning pitching change.

“You need to send Shohei at all costs,” Freeman said, only half-jokingly, with Ohtani looming at second base as the potential winning run.

Otherwise, the Gold Glove first baseman would have been in line for the most unexpected of tasks.

For the first time in nine years, he would have had to play third base.

In the Dodgers’ 5–4 walk-off win over the Miami Marlins, manager Dave Roberts had exhausted his bench in search of a late-game comeback. He pinch-hit Alex Call and Miguel Rojas in the seventh inning. He inserted Santiago Espinal as a defensive replacement at second base in the eighth. And as he looked over his lineup card while facing a two-run deficit ahead of the ninth, he knew he wanted hot-swinging backup catcher Dalton Rushing to get an opportunity at the plate.

The only problem with that game plan: The Dodgers wouldn’t have anyone left to play second base if the game were extended into extra innings.

So, just in case, Roberts came up with a solution.

Rushing would pinch-hit in the ninth for Espinal, who was still at second by that point. And if the game continued on from there, things would get … weird.

Max Muncy would move over to second, a place where he has plenty of past experience. Rushing would take over at first, a spot he played regularly while coming up through the minors.

As for third? Freeman would have been the best remaining option –– kicking over to a position he last manned for a two-week stretch with the Atlanta Braves back in 2017.

“My heart started racing a little bit,” Freeman told the California Post afterward, recounting his reaction when bench coach Danny Lehmann approached him to lay out the possibility. “It’s been nine years since I played there.”

Freeman still obliged, of course. Injured teammate Kiké Hernández even fetched one of his purple infielder’s gloves from the clubhouse for Freeman to use, if needed.

“I would have been fine if it was like the sixth inning and no one was on,” said Freeman, who does still take occasional pregame grounders at third base and shortstop as part of his routine of fielding and throwing drills.

“But,” he added while standing in front of his locker, “it was gonna be the top of the 10th with a guy on second base…”

From across the clubhouse, teammate Miguel Rojas playfully interjected.

“They were gonna bunt to you, bud,” Rojas said with a laugh.

“And I was gonna bare-hand it,” Freeman responded, “and throw it right into the stands.”

Luckily for Freeman and the Dodgers, no such emergency maneuver was needed.

In the bottom of the ninth, the team mounted a three-run, game-winning rally, one that was keyed by a ground-rule double from Ohtani three batters before Kyle Tucker’s walk-off single.

Still, Freeman didn’t want to take any chances. Which is why, after drawing a walk that loaded the bases, he approached Ebel with his green-light suggestion during the break in the action.

The one player who seemingly wasn’t aware of the stakes was walk-off hero Tucker himself.

Good thing too, as Freeman noted.

“Kyle said, if he would have known that, he would have tried to get hit by a pitch so we would just tie the game.”

Alas, he got Freeman off the hook by lining a game-ending single to center field instead.

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