Kyle Freeland stood, grim-faced, in front of his locker Wednesday afternoon, answering questions about what went wrong in the Rockies’ 6-0 loss to San Diego at .
The 23-year-old left-hander provided an honest answer.
“Setting the tone is very big in this game, and I didn’t set the tone very well in the first inning, and I think that kind of quieted our bats as well,” he said. “If you set a good tone, good things happen. If you set a bad tone, bad things happen.”
It was a far different scene than last Friday when the Denver native made his major-league debut against the in the home opener. His performance that day was the stuff of dreams. The hometown kid pitched six innings of one-run, four-hit baseball and claimed the victory.
Wednesday’s game was the stuff of rookie nightmares: six runs allowed on eight hits in 4 ⅔ innings. San Diego tagged Freeland for four runs on four hits in the first inning, with Wil Myers’ RBI double and Ryan Schimpf’s two-run homer the exclamation points.
“They jumped him early, but his stuff was fine,” manager Bud Black said. “(Manuel) Margot jumped on the first one (for a double); he made a pretty good pitch to Myers, who poked it to right; and (Yangervis) Solarte had a bloop single to right.
“The big blow was the slider that didn’t move away from Schimpf. He popped it and he’s got pull power. That was sort of the back-breaker for Kyle.”
Freeland settled down after that and took the Rockies into the fifth inning. But the Padres then strung together a walk by Myers, a single by Solarte, an RBI single by Hunter Renfroe and a sacrifice fly by Schimpf for two runs.
“He pitched efficient and he got a couple of groundball double plays and threw strikes,” Black said. “He didn’t back down and didn’t seem, overall, down in the dumps….That showed us something.”
Added Freeland: “We figured some things out after that first inning; what was working and what wasn’t. I was able to sink that two-seam quite a bit and get some groundball outs.”
Footnotes. Padres first baseman Wil Myers continued his assault on the Rockies at Coors Field. He was 2-for-3 with an RBI double Wednesday and finished the three-game series 10-for-17….Right-hander Mike Nikorak, the Rockies’ 27th overall pick of the 2015 draft, underwent Tommy John surgery Wednesday and will miss the 2017 season.
Looking Ahead …
Rockies RHP Jon Gray (0-0, 5.79 ERA) at Giants’ LHP Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 3.00), 8:15 p.m. Thursday, ROOT; 850 AM
For his second consecutive start, Gray matches up against the opposition’s ace. Gray got a no-decision last Saturday against Los Angeles, but the Rockies beat Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw 4-2. Thursday night, Gray will attempt to out-duel Bumgarner. Gray has faced the Giants twice, both times at AT&T Park, going 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA. Bumgarner is coming off a frustrating game against San Diego, in which he pitched his 15th career complete game, but came away with a loss. The left-hander has made 25 starts against Colorado, going 12-6 with a 2.99 ERA, with 114 strikeouts vs. 45 walks. Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez has feasted on Bumgarner, hitting .321 (18-for-56) with five home runs and four doubles.
Friday: Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (1-1, 8.44 ERA) At Giants RHP Johnny Cueto (2-0, 4.50), 8:15 p.m., ROOT
Saturday: Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (0-2, 6.35) at Giants LHP Matt Moore (1-1, 2.70), 2:05 p.m., ROOT
Sunday: Rockies RHP Antonio Senzaleta (1-0, 1.50) at Giants RHP Jeff Samardzija (0-2, 6.75), 2:05 p.m., ROOT
