CINCINNATI — As Freddie Freeman hit just four home runs in his first 260 plate appearances this season, he would tell you it didn’t worry him – and then recite the exit velocities and launch angles of the fly balls he felt deserved a better fate.

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

One-oh-eight and 22 were enough Wednesday night. Freeman led off the seventh inning with his third home run in 41 plate appearances, breaking a tie and the Dodgers went on to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-4.

Freeman also drove in a run with a single and has seven RBIs in the first two games of this series. He is 13 for his past 34 (.382) and batting .338 (22 for 65) over his past 16 games, doing what he can to lift the Dodgers’ Mookie-less offense from 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 went on the injured list. “So this isn’t anything new that I haven’t seen. Losing Mookie is obviously a huge blow but that just means a lot of guys have to step up. No one’s going to replace what Mookie’s done this whole season. We’ve just got to step up and carry it and hopefully he can get back soon.”

Tuesday was actually the one-year anniversary of Freeman’s Braves losing Ronald Acuña Jr. to a season-ending knee injury – a key point in the championship narrative in Atlanta.

“It worked out alright,” Freeman said with a chuckle. “A lot of guys got hot and (the front office) made some really good trades.”

The Dodgers do not have a lot of guys getting hot. But they have at least two – Freeman and Will Smith.

Smith had three hits Wednesday, driving in Freeman with one of them, and is 20 for 59 (.339) over his past 15 games.

“It’s huge,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You’re taking a superstar player out of the lineup. And to have Will step up and take those type of at-bats, whether it’s to get on base, drive runs in, he’s doing it. And I think our guys, they see that, they notice that.

“I think the at-bat quality from Chris Taylor has ramped up. I think Freddie, same thing. I think Trea Turner’s at-bat quality, not just the hits but the situational everything, has ramped up. I think Justin (Turner) is taking much better at-bats now. So I think up and down the lineup … guys are starting to pick up that void of Mookie.”

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

Back-to-back doubles by Kyle Farmer and Donovan Solano produced the first run and Dodgers starter Tyler Anderson walked Matt Reynolds.

Albert Almora Jr. bounced a ground ball to third baseman Max Muncy and the Dodgers appeared to turn an inning-ending double play. But the Reds challenged the call at first base and it was overturned, putting runners at the corners with two outs.

Turner made a diving stop of Aramis Garcia’s ground ball to his left but his throw to first base was in the dirt and got past Freeman. A run scored on that play and another on a wild pitch by Anderson.

The Dodgers chipped away at the Reds’ lead with a run on Smith’s RBI single in the third then took the lead with a three-run fifth inning against Reds starter Luis Castillo who was done after 103 pitches.

But the Reds tied the score at 4-4 when Almora led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run, and they were set to take the lead later that inning when they put runners at second and third with one out. Tommy Pham lofted a fly ball to left field and Jonathan India tagged at third. But Taylor’s one-hop throw was waiting for him at home plate, cutting off the run and ending the inning.

“Oh man, that was awesome,” said the normally stoic Anderson. “CT right there, he got behind it. I mean, it’s just textbook. He’s a very textbook player and that was a very textbook play.”

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Reds lefty Ross Detwiler retired the Dodgers in order in the sixth and manager David Bell left him in to face Freeman to start the seventh. That idea looked sound until Freeman drove a 2-and-2 sinker from Detwiler into the seats.

“I’ve faced Ross a lot in my career,” said Freeman, who is now 7 for 29 with that one home run against Detwiler who spent seven seasons in Washington, most of it while Freeman was with the NL East rival Braves. “He’s sinker-slider and I was able to get to a sinker inside right there and able to get it over the fence.”

The Dodgers pulled away with three runs in the eighth, including two on a double from Trayce Thompson – his first RBIs for the Dodgers since July 2017.

“We backed up a very good offensive output, performance with another good one,” Roberts said of back-to-back eight-run nights. “I just thought you’re facing, for me, one of the elite pitchers in all of baseball, as far as stuff, who is on a roll right now and to get the pitch count up, grind him – really good at-bats all throughout the lineup. … Just well done.”

They’re a 10 but they haven’t voted for Freddie yet.

: https://t.co/BXKr9ILkke pic.twitter.com/oBqfOp7pvg

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 23, 2022

Taylor Red that perfectly. pic.twitter.com/Zd3l2DQB6o

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 23, 2022

Freddie Freeman on his 7th inning home run, the #Dodgers offense and the upcoming series in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/upTYmYW7R1

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) June 23, 2022

“Just trying to make the most of each day and prepare for whatever opportunity I get.” Trayce Thompson on his 2-run double in the eighth. pic.twitter.com/xnfIcizBtr

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) June 23, 2022