There were plenty of baserunners to go around for both sides in Las Vegas on Saturday night, with the Colorado Rockies and Athletics combining for 19 hits. While the Rockies had their chances, another rough outing from Kyle Freeland didn’t help the cause, and they were never able to stay ahead of the A’s.
The Rockies losing streak grows to three games as they drop the series.
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Freeland falls behind early again, but rebounds
The first inning has not been kind to Freeland on the season.
Coming into tonight’s game, he carried a 9.00 ERA with 11 runs and 13 hits surrendered in 11 first innings pitched. He’s only been worse in third innings (11.45 ERA, 14 runs, 24 hits).
That trend continued with another rough game start for K-Free. He secured the first out against Colby Thomas leading off, forcing him to a grounder. After a Nick Kurtz single and a Shea Langeliers double, Freeland got a strikeout for out number two. With those two outs and runners on second and third, Freeland allowed a two-run single to Jacob Wilson to give the Athletics an early lead.
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Things got better from there — for a bit, anyway — as Freeland settled in over the next couple innings. Aside from a double in the second inning, Freeland worked through the second and third with relative ease. He notched another strikeout in the second and logged a 1-2-3 third.
Rockies claw back in and a slew of triples bounce Estes
For their part, the Rockies offense chipped away at the A’s leads. After a quiet first and second inning, the Rockies initially broke through in the third with a Brett Sullivan solo home run to right field, cutting the lead to 2-1.
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TJ Rumfield doubled to second to lead off the fourth inning. He was brought home a few batters later on a Troy Johnston single. Johnston was thrown out trying to stretch it into a two-bagger, but got the job done and tied the game at 2-2.
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That tie wouldn’t last long. In the bottom of the inning, Henry Bolte singled, and a Zack Gelof dinger put the Athletics back ahead, 4-2.
The rollercoaster, or maybe seesaw, continued with the Rockies bats getting to work in the fifth inning. Kyle Karros got his first career triple to start the momentum. Sullivan scored him on a fly ball to right to bring the Rockies within a run. Another triple from Sterlin Thompson would chase Estes, with José Suarez coming in to relieve him.
Before being called up and given the start in tonight’s game, Estes was 2-6 in 12 starts with a 5.95 for the Las Vegas Aviators in triple-A. Getting the start in familiar surroundings at the Aviators’ home, Estes made it 4.1 innings giving up five hits, four runs (including the homer to Sullivan), and four strikeouts.
By the end of the inning, the Rockies took a 5-4 lead after Thompson made it home on a passed ball and an Edouard Julien double scored Rumfield.
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Things get rocky for the Rockies in the sixth
Freeland’s up and down night continued. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, Freeland would again let the lead slip away in the sixth inning. Freeland gave up a single to Alika Wiliams that brought Gelof home from second to tie things up again at 5-5.
Following that, Freeland was pulled for Jaden Hill. Freeland’s day ended after 5.2 innings, giving up a whopping 10 hits and six runs, with four strikeouts. His ERA jumped up to 7.98 after this start. Manager Warren Schaeffer noted that he “thought Kyle battled well tonight. Kyle was throwing the ball very well; the pen is a little light at the moment. He did a great job taking it to 95 pitches.”
Of those 95, he relied primarily on his four-seam fastball throughout, but leaned heavily on his cutter for his third time through the order. The A’s were able to get their bats on his cutter, though, with four of their 10 hits against Freeland coming off of that pitch.
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Hill, who was so reliable to start the year, would unfortunately log another off night. On a 1-1 count with two outs, Hill surrendered a double to Tyler Soderstrom that gave the A’s a 6-5 lead on a Williams run. Hill intentionally walked Kurtz, walked Langeliers to load the bases, and hit Carlos Cortes with a pitch to move a runner home and extend the lead to 7-5.
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Steady as she goes
Despite lots of early lead changes, the runs dried up in the later innings. The Rockies needed a couple pitchers to make it through the bottom of the seventh. Seth Halvorsen replaced Hill to start the inning, getting the first two outs but allowing Gelof to board second on a fielding error. After Williams walked and Gelof stole third, the Rockies looked to Juan Mejia to get the final out. That he did, as Soderstrom grounded to the mound. Neither side mustered much of anything in the eighth.
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The Rockies went out with a dud. They only managed one hit from the fifth inning on and were blanked in the ninth when Elvis Alvarado entered to close things out for the A’s. Alvarado struck Karros out on four pitches, mixing sliders and a sinker, ultimately getting him out on the former. Sullivan battled for a good at-bat, but met the same fate, striking out after 10 pitches. Thompson grounded out towards first to put the game to bed.
Schaeffer pointed to “sloppy baseball” being the reason for tonight’s loss. He noted that the team “had the chance to get out of innings, chance to win the game. But sloppy baseball prevented that from happening.”
Up Next
The Sin City series comes to a close with a Sunday afternoon matchup. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. MDT at Las Vegas Ballpark.
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Tomoyuki Sugano (6-4, 4.08 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Rockies, while the Athletics will turn to Jeffrey Springs (3-6, 4.68 ERA).
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