Atlanta’s “littler fella” socks it to Colorado in LoDo
BRAVES 4, ROCKIES 0
Wind rushed in from the west Sunday at Coors Field like an insurance policy for Rockies lefthander Kyle Freeland, blowing toward the bats of Braves hitters. Nothing, it seemed, would travel far, even the pitching mistakes.
Until 5-foot-8, 21-year-old wunderkind Ozzie Albies came to the plate for Atlanta in the fifth inning. In the face of strong currents, he put the game’s first run on the scoreboard with a double, helping the Braves defeat the Rockies 4-0 in front of 42,031 fans.
“For a littler fella, he’s got some sock,” Colorado manager Bud Black said.
Albies’ ground-rule double to left-center put the Braves ahead 1-0 and opened a barrage. Two innings later, Albies smacked a solo homer off reliever Chris Rusin that made it 4-0. Atlanta got backto-back homers off Freeland in the sixth, from Nick Markakis and Dansby Swanson.
The Rockies lost the series to Atlanta and dropped to 5-5. Freeland, who fell to 0-2, has been undone in two starts by home runs. The Padres also hit two off him last week in San Diego.
“That’s kind of been the story over the past two starts. It’s come down to four or five pitches, really,” Freeland said. “They’re mistakes.”
The wind seemed to cause problems only for the Rockies, who struck out nine times against Atlanta left-hander Sean Newcomb in six-plus innings. Only Nolan Arenado reached second base against Newcomb, in the first and seventh innings, after Trevor Story singled him along. And only Pat Valaika reached third base for the Rockies, in the eighth.
The Rockies were shut out at home for the first time since May 27 of last season — and in their past four games, they have managed to score just nine runs.
“No concerns,” Black said of his club’s offense.
The Braves, on the other hand, are the best hitting team in baseball in the early going, with a majors-best 62 runs and a .285 team batting average. Freeland was handling the Braves adeptly until Albies came to bat for the third time. Freeland had walked Ender Inciarte with two outs, and on a full count Albies fished out a low slider to deep center that bounced over the wall.
“They have their hitting shoes on,” Black said.
Freeland got through six innings with just three runs allowed, often a path to victory at Coors Field for
a starting pitcher. But the home runs in the sixth were elevated missteps, and the Braves built a healthy lead.
“You saw the first couple innings, the wind played havoc with the ball,” Black said. “But as the game went on, the wind ate at some of these balls hit in the outfield.”
Newcomb, like Freeland, is in his second major-league season. He struggled through just 4L innings of his debut last week but rebounded to shut down the Rockies with control and variance.
His changeup was “devastating,” Black said. His fastball was “heavy,” second baseman DJ LeMahieu said. Newcomb did not walk a batter, and he gave up just five hits in six innings.
He is just the third pitcher to throw at least six shutout innings with at least nine strikeouts and no walks in the 23-year history of Coors Field, joining Jon Gray (2016) and Randy Johnson (2007).
“We didn’t swing it great today,” LeMahieu said. “But we have a really good offense, and I’m not worried about it.”