Kyle Freeland was forced to leave in the middle of a gem Monday afternoon at Coors Field, but Rockies fans need not worry.
The Colorado southpaw had thrown five shutout innings against the Pirates before he exited the homestand opener with a leg cramp. The injury occurred when Freeland was running the bases, but he plans to be back on the mound for his next scheduled start.
“We’re optimistic that it was just a cramp, because I didn’t feel a pop or a pull or anything like that,” Freeland said. “We’ll see how it feels (Tuesday).”
Freeland, who reached base twice via bunt off the Pirates’ Tyler Anderson — once via hit and once via error — went from first to third base on Yonathan Daza’s two-out double in the fifth. But Freeland came up hobbling upon reaching the bag and had to be replaced with a pinch runner, Jon Gray.
The former Thomas Jefferson star missed a large part of the beginning of the season due to a shoulder injury suffered in spring training. After a rough start, Freeland was trending upward lately, having also thrown a quality start in his last outing, last week in Seattle.
Tyler Kinley took the mound in the sixth inning, with the Rockies leading 2-0, where the score would stay in Colorado’s series-opening win.
