MIAMI -- For the first time in over a year, the Rockies have swept a series.
May 15, 2024 was the last time the Rox recorded the final out of a series sweep, doing so against the Padres in the midst of a seven-game win streak. Wins have been harder to come by for the team this season, but on Wednesday afternoon at loanDepot park, Kyle Freeland and Co. injected this team with a new sense of hope heading into the year’s halfway point with a 3-2 victory over the Marlins.
Freeland was nearly untouchable in his 13th start of the year, collecting his first win thanks to a four-hit masterclass in which he fanned three batters and allowed two unearned runs through 6 1/3 innings.
Hunter Goodman, Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle provided the run support for Freeland. Goodman, who went 5-for-9 with three homers and four RBIs in the first two games of the series, kept his hot streak going with an RBI triple off former Rockie Cal Quantrill in the first. Beck gave his squad a 2-0 lead with an RBI ground-rule double in the fifth. Doyle drove in Goodman in the sixth on a sac fly after the latter doubled and advanced to third on a flyout.
Freeland looked human in the seventh after pitching six scoreless frames. He gave up a pair of hits following an error at short, which allowed Miami to come within one run. But Colorado’s bullpen -- Jake Bird, Victor Vodnik and Tyler Kinley -- combined to shut down Miami to secure the win.
“I think for us in the bullpen … we just focus on us,” Kinley said postgame. “We’re trying to be ready every night, whether we’re up a lot, whether we’re down a lot, because every out matters.”
Freeland collected outs at a furious pace to open his start, putting out four of the first five batters he faced. He plunked Dane Myers with one out in the second but quickly picked him off at first base, then forced Nick Fortes to pop out to end the inning.
Freeland was clean in the third and fourth, gave up a lone single before inducing a double play in the fifth and went 1-2-3 in the sixth before sustaining damage in the seventh. Miami trotted two runs home in the inning and would have had a third off reliever Jake Bird if not for a stellar relay and throw home from Orlando Arcia.
“Freeland going strong, putting us on his back, taking us into the seventh [stood out to me],” manager Warren Schaeffer said postgame. “... Big plays defensively, Arcia’s throw to the plate, big-time. And just the offensive approach, I thought we hit a lot of balls hard tonight.
“[Freeland] just looked ready to go. From the beginning, his body language looked energetic. He looked ready to roll.”
Freeland’s four-seamer was working wonders for him throughout a performance that he called one of his best of the season. He went to it for 46.7 percent of his pitches and used it for half of his strikeouts.
“I honestly can’t remember the last time I threw that many fastballs in a good start like that,” he said. “But the fastball and cutter were on point today. We saw from the start, both myself and [catcher Jacob] Stallings, and just kind of played off that.”
The 32-year-old started the season 0-8 with a 5.72 ERA (39 earned runs), which would have been the second-worst mark of his career. Still, he’s leading the Rockies in quality starts (six), while his 10 unearned runs are the most in MLB.
Miami’s been kind to Freeland in his career: After Wednesday, he’s allowed three earned runs through 20 1/3 career innings at loanDepot park, while holding a 4-0 record (2.89 ERA) in eight total games (six starts) against the Marlins (both home and away). And Wednesday, the city’s rainy climate seemed to wash away some sourness from Colorado’s poor start to the season.
The win means as much to Freeland -- a Denver native who was drafted by the Rockies in the first round in 2014 and debuted for them in ‘17 -- as it does anyone in the clubhouse.
“I think winning a series means a ton to us,” he said. “We get that monkey off our back. We’ve been hearing it from everyone, TV, media and in our own heads: ‘We haven’t won a series yet, and it’s already June.’
“We got that off our back, we ended up getting a sweep. So I think it’s a breath of fresh air for us. We get to move forward, we get to build off that and we use that momentum going back home.”