Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 7: Colorado’s rally falls short, and starting pitcher Kyle Freeland gets injured. »
PHOENIX» If the Rockies’ season were a movie, it would be a disaster flick.
“The Poseidon Adventure,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Armageddon,” “The Towering Inferno”? Heck, they have nothing on the 2019 Rockies. At least the Titanic went down quickly.
Not only did the Rockies lose 8-7 to Arizona on Tuesday night in the desert, they also lost starter Kyle Freeland to an injury. The left-hander was pulled in the sixth inning with an apparent leg injury. There was no immediate word on the specifics or severity of Freeland’s injury.
The Rockies, cemented in the National League West basement with a 57-69 record, are 1-7 in their last eight games vs. the Diamondbacks, having been outscored 5331.
At least the Rockies turned Tuesday’s game into a cliffhanger when Charlie Blackmon hit a pinch-hit double in the ninth inning and scored on Trevor Story’s sacrifice fly to right. Story finished 4-for-4 with three RBIs.
Freeland appeared to land awkwardly on the mound while he was pitching to the Diamondbacks’ Nick Ahmed. Freeland quickly departed the field with head trainer Keith Dugger and manager Bud Black. Freeland left with one out, a runner on second and the game tied 3-3. Freeland has had a difficult season, but he was pitching relatively well against the D-Backs. He gave up five hits, one of which was a solo homer to Ahmed in the third, and allowed five runs (three earned).
The flood gates opened after Freeland departed and Bryan Shaw took the mound. Shaw, who owns a 5.67 ERA, gave up three runs on three hits, including a two-run triple to Eduardo Escobar.
Colorado rallied for three runs in the seventh inning, cutting Arizona’s lead to 8-6. The key hits were an RBI single by Story and a run-scoring double by Daniel Murphy.
Freeland looked good early, breezing through his first two innings and getting four groundball outs. But Ahmed ambushed Freeland on the first pitch of the third inning, hammering a slider deep into the left-field seats for a 1-0 Arizona lead.
Freeland, a Denver native, is 3-11 with a 6.98 ERA but was hoping to finish strong after a rough season that has included a demotion to Triple-A Albuquerque.
Colorado took a brief 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on Nolan Arenado’s two-run homer off lefty Alex Young. Arenado, playing in his 1,00th big-league game, leads the Rockies with 31 home runs.
Poor defense cost the Rockies. In Arizona’s two-run fourth inning, second baseman Ryan McMahon’s error on Escobar’s grounder led to an unearned run. Arenado’s throwing error from third off Adam Jones’ hot shot contributed to the D-backs’ fiverun sixth.