A crowd of 48,178 in Dodger Stadium rose to its feet as Freddie Freeman came to the plate in the first inning Monday night, the rousing ovation marking the return of the veteran first baseman from an eight-game absence while his 3-year-old son, Maximus, battled a rare neurological disorder that temporarily paralyzed the toddler.
Freeman had already fought back tears during a 30-minute pregame news conference in which he recounted Max’s harrowing ordeal, which included eight straight days in a pediatric intensive care unit, and now he could feel the emotions welling up in his chest again as the crowd showered him with admiration.
Freeman doffed his batting helmet and tapped his heart in appreciation of the 45-second ovation, and he thought he would be able to hold it together … until he saw his father, Fred, and his stepmother, Alma, in the first row behind the backstop.
“My dad was — I don’t know if I could call it crying, but he was choked up and teary-eyed — and that’s what really got me going,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
“It made it really hard to hit in that first at-bat, but that’s a good thing. I was OK with that. It was one of the most pleasant strikeouts I’ve had in my big-league career.”
Freeman, who had one single and two strikeouts in four at-bats, didn’t play a huge role in his team’s victory over the National League East-leading Phillies, one that pushed the Dodgers’ NL-West lead over Arizona and San Diego to five games.
The heavy lifting was done by starter Tyler Glasnow, who gave up three runs and five hits in six innings, striking out nine and walking none, to improve to 9-6 with a 3.54 ERA; relievers Michael Kopech, Anthony Banda and Daniel Hudson, who each threw scoreless innings, and Teoscar Hernández and Shohei Ohtani, who each hit home runs.
But by the end of the night, in which his teammates wore #MaxStrong T-shirts during batting practice, he got a hug from Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper after his third-inning single and a post-game text from his wife, Chelsea, “that was positive,” for a change, the eight-time All-Star was exhausted.
Read more: Back with Dodgers, Freddie Freeman details son’s ‘heartbreaking’ fight for life
“I’m kind of glad it’s over, to be honest,” Freeman, 34, said. “I’m tired and worn out. I’ve been talking…