CINCINNATI. Since Freddie Freeman only hit four home runs in his first 260 plate games this season, he would tell you it didn’t bother him and then list the exit speeds and fly-ball launch angles he thought he deserved. better fate.

“One hour three (mph) and 29 (degrees) used to be a home run,” he said Tuesday night. “It is what it is.”

One-zero-eight and 22 was enough on Wednesday night. Freeman led the seventh inning with his third home run in 41 games at the plate, breaking the tie, and the Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 8–4.

Freeman also ran with the single and received seven RBIs in the first two games of the series. He’s 13 years old in his last 34 (.382) and batting .338 (22 of 65) in his last 16 games, doing his best to lift the Dodgers’ Mournless offense out of its early June slump.

“This is my second year in a row that we’ve lost one of the best players in all of baseball,” Freeman said after the Dodgers won for the third time in five games since Mookie Betts was on the injured list. “So it’s not something new that I haven’t seen. Losing Torment is obviously a huge blow, but it just means a lot of guys need to step up. No one can replace what Mookie has been doing all season. We just have to come and carry him and hopefully he will be back soon.”

Tuesday was actually the anniversary of the Freeman’s Braves losing to Ronald Acuña Jr. with a season-ending knee injury – a key moment in the Atlanta championship storytelling.

“It worked,” Freeman chuckled. “A lot of guys fired up and (in the front office) made some really good deals.”

The Dodgers don’t have many hot guys. But there are at least two of them – Freeman and Will Smith.

Smith had three hits on Wednesday, one of which hit Freeman, and scored 20 of 59 (.339) over the last 15 games.

“It’s huge,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You are removing a superstar from the squad. And for Will to come forward and take on those attacks, whether it’s hitting the base, running, he’s doing it. And I think that our guys see it, they notice it.

“I think the quality of Chris Taylor at bat has gone up. I think Freddie is the same. I think the quality of Trea Turner’s bats, not just the punches, but the whole situational, has gone up. I think Justin (Turner) is much better at bats now. So I think across the lineup…the guys are starting to pick up on that emptiness of Muka.”

The Dodgers had to climb out of a 3-0 hole against the Reds thanks to replay viewing and their own mistakes.

Back-to-back doubles of Kyle Farmer and Donovan Solano made the first run, and Dodgers starter Tyler Anderson passed Matt Reynolds.

Albert Almora, Jr. hit a ground ball to third baseman Max Munsey, and the Dodgers appeared to turn the double play into a half-time ending. But the Reds contested the challenge at first base, and it was overturned, putting runners in the corners with two outs.

Turner stopped in a jump off a ground ball from Aramis Garcia to his left, but his throw to first base hit the dirt and went past Freeman. A run in this game and another on Anderson’s wild pitch.

The Dodgers pulled away from the Reds’ lead by beating Smith’s RBI single in the third and then took the lead with a three-run fifth inning against Reds starter Luis Castillo, who lost after 103 innings.

But the Reds tied the game 4–4 with Almora leading in the bottom of the fifth with a home run, and they were to take the lead later in the same inning when they put runners in second and third with one out. Tommy Pham threw a flyball to the left flank and Jonathan India took third. But Taylor’s one-jump shot was waiting for him at home plate, cutting off the run and ending the pitch.

“Oh man, that was amazing,” said the usually stoic Anderson. “The contact is right there, he’s behind it. I mean, it’s just a tutorial. He’s a very good player and it was a very good game.”