After Arizona started Colorado’s season with a historic 16-1 trouncing at Chase Field, the Rockies paid the snakes back with a comeback victory on Monday at Coors Field.
The Rockies beat the defending National League champions, 7-5, in a series opener where Kyle Freeland took a step forward following his first two horrendous starts and the bullpen was mostly solid.
“I can’t lie, those first two starts were an absolute gut-punch to me coming off the solid spring that I had,” Freeland said. “I was riding high with a lot of confidence, and to have it wiped away like that was a pretty terrible feeling.
“But that’s why we keep playing this game. To come out tonight, grind for five innings, and able to get a team win out of it.”
Colorado’s decisive frame came in a three-run sixth, when the red-hot Ryan McMahon — atoning for a costly error earlier in the night — had an infield single to give Colorado the lead it wouldn’t look back from.
And, in a refreshing change of pace, the Rockies actually got on the board first for the first time this year.
Charlie Blackmon led off for Colorado with an opposite-field triple, and then Ezequiel Tovar singled to center to score Blackmon and snap a franchise-record drought of not scoring first in 16 consecutive games dating back to last season.
But after a couple quiet innings, Arizona’s bats came alive in the fourth.
In that inning, Christian Walker led off with a single, then Eugenio Suárez walked. After old friend Randal Grichuk hit a sacrifice fly and Kevin Newman singled to center to make it a 2-1 visitors’ lead, McMahon got eaten up by a chopper down the line, resulting in two unearned runs.
The next batter, Corbin Carroll, hit a sharp grounder back to Freeland, and the clearly frustrated southpaw fired a fastball over to first for the final out of the inning. It was Freeland, after all, who was lit up in that Opening Day disaster in Phoenix.
Freeland finished with five innings pitched, and two earned runs on six hits and two walks. He was heavy on fastball and curveball while getting two strikeouts on 93 total pitches.
“That was big to put up a zero in the fifth, because it could’ve unraveled with the momentum they had coming out of the fourth,” Freeland said. “That shutdown inning was pretty big to allow our offense to get going. … I took a moment to myself in the dugout after the fourth, thought about everything that happened, and told myself I had to get back out there and keep pulling for this team because we had a chance to comeback and win a ballgame.”
The Thomas Jefferson product now has 40 career starts at Coors Field with at least five innings pitched and two or less earned runs, tying Jeff Francis for the third-most starts with those stats in franchise history.
“They didn’t really hit the ball hard against Kyle,” Black said. “It was a lot of grounders. … Overall, Kyle competed hard as he always does, and he made good pitches when he needed them.”
Colorado got a pair back in the bottom of the frame. Kris Bryant and Nolan Jones both had RBI singles to cut the score to 4-3 as the Rockies started to touch up Zac Gallen, who shut them down on Opening Day in Arizona.
After Gallen’s exit, the Rockies went to work on the Dbacks’ bullpen in the sixth. They scored one via Elehuris Montero’s sacrifice fly and loaded the bases to end the right-hander’s night, bringing on southpaw Joe Mantiply. McMahon’s infield single and then an Elias Diaz walk gave Colorado a 6-4 lead.
“The gap-to-gap, up-the-middle approach has worked for Mac,” Black said on McMahon, who is hitting .415.
As the home team went ahead in front of a sparse crowd, Peter Lambert was effective in long relief. The right-hander tossed two scoreless innings, allowing just one baserunner via a walk, before turning the game over to right-hander Justin Lawrence in the eighth. Lawrence, who began the season as the closer, struggled in the home opener against the Rays last Friday when he was pegged for five runs (four earned) while getting just one out in a ninth-inning meltdown.
But after Lawrence made it through the eighth without any major blips, Blackmon hit his first homer of the year 395 feet to right field to extend Colorado’s lead to 7-4.
In the ninth, right-hander Nick Mears had a chance to earn his first career save, but got into trouble instead. After walking the first two batters and giving up an RBI single, Mears issued another walk to load the bases.
That’s when he got the hook, and right-hander Jake Bird came in to get the final out to earn his first career save instead. Bird was 0-for-12 in save opportunities prior to that.
“Every (win) feels good, no matter who you’re playing, but this one especially does after the start to the year,” Bird said.
$182 million man update. Bryant, who missed Saturday’s game due to back tightness, played right field on Monday and appeared to be running, and swinging, without any issues. In addition to his RBI single, he also made a sliding catch to end Arizona’s half of the sixth.
Still, even with a hit in a 1-for-4 performance on Monday, he’s hitting just .125. Jake Cave replaced Bryant in right field for the ninth inning, and Cave snagged Suárez’s deep drive at the track for the final out of the game.
“We wanted to get (Bryant) out in right field and move him around,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He’s fine and he feels good physically.”
Hammerin’ Hank’s 50th anniversary. Black was a junior in high school on April 8, 1954, the day that Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth for the most homers all-time with 715.
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Black still sharply recalls that day, and the build-up to baseball history for one of his favorite players.
“I was studying for a high school physics test that night,” Black said. “And I do remember that — (the Dodgers’) Al Downing the pitcher, the swing to left-center over the chain-link fence into the bullpen (at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium), the shot of him running around the bases with the two fans coming out of the stands to congratulate him.
“That was one of my vivid memories of a true baseball event. There was a lot of build-up. Back then, no, I didn’t think (that would be broken). That seemed like a lot. Then I when I got into the 1990s, I still didn’t think it was going to happen… But Barry got him. I don’t think anyone will get (762). Barry’s record is safe.”
Barry Bonds — Black’s teammate with the Giants in 1993 and ’94 — eventually broke Aaron’s record of 755 in 2007, Bonds’ final season in the majors.
Tuesday’s pitching matchup
Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (1-0, 1.98) at Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (0-1, 9.00)
6:40 p.m. Tuesday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Quantrill got hit for five runs in five innings in his Rockies debut on March 29 in Arizona, a 7-3 loss that included two homers. He was equally mediocre in his second start, yielding four runs in four innings in a 9-8 loss to the Cubs in Chicago last week. Walks were an issue in that outing, as he issued four free passes. And with only four strikeouts so far, Quantrill is getting very little swing and miss: He ranks among the bottom 6% of big-league pitchers in whiff percentage, and the bottom 1% in strikeout percentage.
Kelly has turned in a couple quality starts so far in 2024, including 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball against Colorado on March 29, followed by seven innings of two-run ball against the Yankees the next week. Of note, Elehuris Montero has homered off Kelly twice in eight career at-bats; Ryan McMahon also has two homers off him, but is hitting .171 in 35 career at-bats.
Pitching probables
Wednesday: Diamondbacks LHP Tommy Henry (0-1, 7.00) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (0-0, 6.23), 1:10 p.m.
Thursday: Off day
Friday: Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (0-1, 3.27) at Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (0-1, 9.53), 5:07 p.m.
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