ST. LOUIS -- Kyle Freeland had certainly experienced his fair share of doctor’s appointments as he attempted to kick a lingering illness that derailed his two previous starts.
While those doctors helped him heal, the veteran left-hander provided a healthy showing of his own on Tuesday night, leading the Rockies to a 3-0 win at Busch Stadium to snap their eight-game losing streak. It was the second shutout of the season for Colorado, with the other also coming against St. Louis on July 23.
“Freeland today was exactly what the doctor ordered,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “That's what we needed.”
Freeland pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, his longest outing since he took a no-hitter into the ninth in a start against the White Sox on July 9, 2017. He allowed five hits, struck out two and walked two.
“Our bullpen has been getting taxed over the past two, two and a half weeks,” Freeland said. “So, as a starter, being able to go out there and eat up the majority of the game and save that bullpen as much as I can [is] very big, and it feels great.”
The 32-year-old got help from his defense via double plays in the first, second and sixth innings. Perhaps the biggest came in the sixth after Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan led off with back-to-back singles to bring the heart of the Cardinals' order up, but Freeland induced the 6-4-3 DP off Iván Herrera’s bat and got another grounder to retire Nolan Gorman to keep St. Louis off the board.
“He had command of almost all his pitches today, and we were able to use them in different counts and use them to different sides of the plate,” Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman said. “And when he has the ability to do that, it's going to be a good day.”
The three induced double plays matched a career high for Freeland.
“Defense was great today,” Freeland said. “[Ezequiel] Tovar made great plays. [Kyle] Karros made great plays. [Kyle] Farmer saved my butt there. All around, everyone was playing great defense, and those double plays definitely helped.”
Freeland’s most impressive inning came in the seventh, which started with a pair of groundouts and ended with a strikeout of Jordan Walker.
That strikeout was No. 900 for Freeland in his career. He is just the third Rockies pitcher to hit that milestone, joining Germán Márquez (1,059) and Jorge De La Rosa (985).
“Climbing up those rankings of leaderboards within the Rockies organization is really cool,” Freeland said. “You know, it shows that we've been here for quite some time and have had success.”
Freeland is the first Rockie since Márquez on June 24, 2022, to have thrown seven or more scoreless frames with two or fewer strikeouts, per the team. It is his first career win against St. Louis in nine appearances (eight starts).
It was a far cry from Freeland’s previous two starts, where he labored through a three-inning appearance on July 30 and 4 2/3 innings last Wednesday while dealing with an energy-sapping illness.
“I think that was the best start we've had from anybody all season,” Schaeffer said. “He was commanding the baseball. He was efficient. I mean, that's what it looks like when Kyle's really good. It was good to have him healthy.”
Goodman broke a scoreless tie with a two-run blast off Matthew Liberatore in the fourth inning. Goodman’s rocket, his fourth homer in his last nine games, traveled a Statcast-projected 442 feet, landing on the concourse beyond the left-field lower-deck seats.
It was the longest home run at Busch Stadium this season, according to Statcast, surpassing a 440-foot shot by Atlanta’s Sean Murphy on July 11 and the hardest homer hit by a Rockie this season, with an exit velocity of 112.2 mph.
Farmer’s RBI single scored Brenton Doyle to give the Rockies a 3-0 lead in the fifth.
“I thought we played a really good game last night, too,” Schaeffer said. “That's what we're looking to do. We're looking to put a bunch of those games in a row together where we're just playing good, solid, fundamental baseball on both sides of the ball.”
More importantly, Freeland’s start comes off the back of a one-run, five-inning effort by Chase Dollander on Monday. This is a welcome sight for the Rockies’ starters, who entered the game with an 8.36 ERA since the All-Star break.