Dodgers Interview: Freddie Tips Cap to Corbin Burnes After Dodgers Come Up Empty in Phoenix
PHOENIX — The Dodgers were shut out 3–0 by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night, and while the bats were quiet, first baseman Freddie Freeman had no doubt about why: Corbin Burnes was simply too good.
“Corbin Burnes, he’s one of the best pitchers in the game for a reason,” Freeman said after the game. “Cutter was 95 to 97, got good depth. Threw the curve off of it. The changeup was working too. He just had everything going today.”
Facing a packed Chase Field crowd that included plenty of Dodger blue, Freeman acknowledged the energy but credited the D-backs’ ace for silencing the noise.
“There’s a lot of good teams in this division,” Freeman said. “So interdivision games are always kind of upbeat, especially when we have a lot of Dodger fans that come out to these games and support us. But Corbin was really good today.”
Freeman pointed out that the cutter at the bottom of the zone made life especially difficult for the Dodgers lineup. “It’s hard to hit those, especially when they’re really low,” he explained. “He was commanding the zone and getting some calls. He was just good.”
Even with Burnes coming off a skipped start and dealing with shoulder soreness earlier in the month, Freeman said no one in the clubhouse was surprised by the performance. “He’s pitching—that means he’s healthy in my mind,” Freeman said. “We were ready for him, and he was just really good today.”
On the flip side, Freeman had plenty of praise for his own starter, Dustin May, who allowed just two runs over six strong innings. “He was great. He was really good,” Freeman said. “From every time I looked up, he was hitting that two-seam in, and he was just landing that slider away. Threw a couple cutters in to lefties too that were really nice. He just had everything going today.”
It was the kind of night where one missed pitch made the difference—May’s lone mistake being a fastball to Eugenio Suárez that left the yard. But Freeman, like manager Dave Roberts and May himself, saw it as a well-pitched game on both sides.
There’s no question the Dodgers would’ve preferred a better outcome, but in Freeman’s eyes, sometimes you just tip your cap. “Corbin was really good today,” he said. “That’s just what happens when you’re facing one of the best.”
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