Freeland shakes off 1st-inning struggles to continue rotation's upward trend

HOUSTON -- For the third straight game, Rockies’ starting pitching faced adversity from the get-go against the Astros. And for a third straight game, Colorado’s starter was able to settle down and give a quality start.

On Thursday afternoon, it was Kyle Freeland who struggled in the first two innings, but locked in to log six solid innings in a 4-3 loss to Houston at Daikin Park.

“The first couple innings, obviously, a little shaky with a couple pitches that got hit,” Freeland said. “Once we settled in, me and Braxton [Fulford] were able to keep them on their heels and go to work and get quick outs.”

Freeland rebounded nicely after surrendering three runs in the first two innings to shut the Astros down over his final four frames.

“I thought Free was really good,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He settled in there after the second inning. Even the first two innings, I thought he was good. He just made one tough pitch to [Jose] Altuve [solo homer in the first]. He didn’t get it high enough.

“But other than that, I thought he was really good. He was sharp. All his offspeed stuff was sharp today. He gave us a chance to win.”

The left-hander yielded three runs on eight hits with six strikeouts. It was Freeland’s 11th quality start of the season.

“After those first two innings where some confidence gets ripped away from you a little bit, to be able to finish six strong with a tie ballgame, giving your team a chance is really all you can ask for out of a starting pitcher,” Freeland said.

After Tanner Gordon and Chase Dollander each allowed one run in six innings in the first two games of the series against the Astros, it marked the first time this season the Rockies have had three starters go at least six innings in three straight outings in the same series.

“It’s extremely important, and it’s good to see, especially the first two young guys and then today Free,” Schaeffer said. “It’s good to see us stacking those games on top of each other and giving us a chance to win, especially on the road.”

Both Gordon and Dollander pointed to adjustments they made early in their starts to get them through six innings.

Freeland said the ability to make in-game adjustments the way the Rockies have over the last three games comes down to time and understanding what is working during an outing.

“When you start getting deeper into games, you start making the little adjustments and things start coming back to you,” Freeland said. “It’s constantly adjusting in the game. Pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, inning to inning. You have to make those adjustments.”

However, Freeland had to grind through another first inning. He allowed back-to-back home runs to Altuve and Christian Walker. Freeland has now yielded 22 runs in opening frames for a first-inning ERA of 7.92, which is the same ERA as the Rockies’ starting rotation in first innings this season.

“I wish I had a good answer for that,” Freeland said of the first-inning struggles. “It’s kind of staff wide for us of struggling in the first couple innings. If I knew the answer, I would immediately fix it for all of us. It’s something that we need to fix as a group so that we can start off on the right foot, set the tone the right way and allow our offense to get on the board first.”

Trailing 3-0, Colorado rallied for three runs on an RBI groundout by Mickey Moniak in the third and solo home runs to right by Ezequiel Tovar and Yanquiel Fernández in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.

The Rockies had opportunities in the sixth and seventh innings to add on, but they were unable to get a run across. They finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.

Schaeffer said his team made adjustments on the offensive end, but “let them off the hook.”

Despite that, Schaeffer was happy with the fight his team continued to show.

“It says everything about us,” Schaeffer said. “I talk about it everyday. It’s no surprise to me, but you can’t take it for granted. These boys come out and play hard everyday and don’t give in. That’s a hard fought battle today.”