David Freese, who played so well in the 2011 MLB playoffs that he inspired me to change the website name for a day, was at it again during Game 5 of the NLDS between the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Freese went deep off Pirates starter Gerrit Cole with a man on in the second inning to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. That was pretty much all Adam Wainwright needed, because he didn’t allow a run until the seventh. Then Matt Adams pretty much put the game out of distance with a 2-run bomb in the eighth to make it 5-1, and they closed it out with a 6-1 victory.
Freese entered Game 5 only 2-for-13 (.154) in the series, and he struck out in his other two at-bats, so it’s not like he’s been scorching this series. But he delivered the big blow, which is all too familiar of a feeling from him. Freese now has hit seven home runs and 29 RBIs in 36 career postseason games. He laid an egg going 5-for-26 (.192) in last year’s NLCS, but he’s trying to make up for it this time around.
Between Freese’s near 1.000 career postseason OPS and Carlos Beltran’s unreal career playoff stats, the Cardinals have a couple of the best postseason hitters in modern history on their side.
