If there was any doubt who the Rockies’ best starter is, second-year left-hander Kyle Freeland reaffirmed that status Sunday with another strong, albeit flawed, outing at Coors Field.
But the notion of the Rockies being on the brink of collapse in early June was also reaffirmed. Their bats were inconsistent, the bullpen was a no-show once again and the Arizona Diamondbacks chipped away at Freeland for a 8-3 win that gave them a series sweep and handed Colorado its seventh consecutive loss at home.
“I think it’s coincidentally happening (that we’re struggling at home),” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “I wish I could answer that question.”
Besides Ketel Marte dinging Freeland for a solo homer in the second — the red-hot second baseman’s 10th straight extra-base hit, which tied a Diamondbacks record — the Rockies’ starter worked well through the first five innings, surrendering just two hits and often grinding into deep counts in order to retire Arizona hitters.
“The pitch count got elevated the first three innings, and then the fourth and fifth he reeled it back in and found the range a little bit,” Black said. “Overall, I think he threw the ball fine. They had some good at-bats. He had some good at-bats against them as well.”
But the Diamondbacks finally got to Freeland in the sixth as the left-hander’s pitch count climbed above 100 during a three-run inning. First Paul Goldschmidt, who hit four homers in the previous two games combined, roped a one-out double. Then a walk, a single, a botched fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly ballooned the Diamondbacks’ lead to 4-0.
“I still felt strong in the sixth there. They just kept doing a really good job of getting deep into at-bats,” Freeland said. “They were really good at picking and choosing what they were going to swing at, fouling things off and getting their pitch.”
The Rockies finally came to life in the bottom of the frame, retaliating with two runs via an Ian Desmond RBI single to cut the score to 4-2.
From there, with Freeland out, a new face emerged from the Rockies bullpen, with the same predictable result.
Left-handed Jerry Vasto, recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque earlier in the day and the Isotopes’ ERA leader this season, made a messy major-league debut. After a single and a walk, Goldschmidt continued his Coors Field rampage with a two-RBI triple, and the Marte double that followed made it 7-2 and chased Vasto.
“(Vasto) did OK. He wasn’t really pounding the zone, but he looked like he was trying to pitch aggressively,” Black said.
From there, Colorado got set down in order in the seventh by Yoshihisa Hirano, and then Chris Rusin surrendered another in the eighth to make it 8-2.
The Rockies added one more in the bottom of the ninth as Chris Iannetta’s double drove in Mike Tauchman to cut the lead to 8-3 after left-hander Sam Howard pitched a scoreless top half of the frame in his major-league debut.
With the loss, Colorado sits 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Diamondbacks in the National League West as the Rockies head on a six-game road trip starting Tuesday at Philadelphia.
“This series, they outpitched us and they out-hit us,” Black said.
Looking ahead
Monday: Off day
Tuesday: Rockies RHP Jon Gray (6-6, 5.66 ERA) at Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (7-2, 2.35), 5:05 p.m., ATTRM
Wednesday: Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (3-1, 4.81) at Phillies RHP Nick Pivetta (4-5, 3.76), 5:05 p.m., ATTRM
Thursday: Rockies RHP German Marquez (4-6, 4.79) at Phillies RHP Vince Velasquez (4-7, 4.95), 11:05 a.m., ATTRM
岹:Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (4-1, 4.40) at Rangers LHP Mike Minor (4-4, 5.65), 6:05 p.m., ATTRM
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