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Dodgers swap Trea Turner & Freddie Freeman near top of lineup

Mookie Betts, Turner, Freeman now batting 1-2-3

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at Los Angeles Dodgers Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers on Sunday ran into many of the offensive problems that plagued them in June, with plenty of opportunities without cashing many in. But the big three at the top of the order set the table quite nicely.

For the first time since June 15, the Dodgers had Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, and Freddie Freeman in the same lineup. Betts reached base four times in his first game back, including two doubles, and he scored both Dodgers runs, driven in once each by Turner and Freeman.

The only thing different was the batting order. Betts was back in his customary leadoff spot, where he has batted in all 60 starts this year. Freeman batted second in each of the first 77 games of the season, but moved to third on Sunday, with Turner now batting in between them. That’s going to be the usual top three for a bit.

The lineup change came with input from the participants, with manager Dave Roberts telling Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, and others, “I had a conversation with all three of those guys. I think they’ve earned that right to be a part of the conversation. They feel great about it. To be quite honest, that was what their preference was.”

Betts and Turner both reach base four times on Sunday.

Old friend alert

Kyle Garlick was a 28th-round draft pick who debuted with the Dodgers in 2019, slugging .521 in 30 games as a rookie. He has six home runs in limited duty with the Twins this year, including a hit in two at-bats on Sunday. In parts of four major league seasons, Garlick has 14 home runs and a .471 slugging percentage in 266 plate appearances.

He talked with David Laurila at FanGraphs about how important reaching the majors with the Dodgers:

“Even though I had faith in myself, I had backup plans. When I went back to Triple-A in 2019. my thought was that if I didn’t get called up that year, I would give myself 2020. If I didn’t get called up then, I was probably going to hang it up. Luckily that didn’t happen. I got called up [in 2019] and that changed my life. I’ve been able to make myself a little career out of baseball.”

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