MLB “book” on Freeland is that he’ll have to adapt to find success

PHILADELPHIA» Rockies manager Bud Black is confident that lefthander Kyle Freeland will figure things out, but it won’t be easy, because there are plenty of issues to resolve.

After pitching just 1M innings Sunday in the Rockies’ 7-5 loss to the Phillies — his shortest bigleague start that didn’t involve an injury — Freeland has a 6.02 ERA after 10 starts. That’s a huge disappointment after going 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA last season.

So what are the issues? According to Black and Freeland, they include:

• Lack of precise pitch command, which was essential to Freeland’s success last season.

• Woes early in games are leading to inflated pitch counts. Consider that nearly 89 percent (31 of 35) of Freeland’s earned runs allowed have come in the first three innings of his 10 starts.

• Opponents “have a book” on Freeland after his success last season, so now he needs to counterpunch. “It’s a game of adjustments, for sure, and you always have to be looking to make an adjustment and you see something or notice something,” Freeland said. “That’s another thing I’m battling, to not be predictable out there.”

Ryan McMahon was back in the starting lineup at second base Sunday after sitting out Friday and Saturday when top prospect Brendan Rodgers was promoted from Triple-A Albuquerque. McMahon made the most of his chance, hitting one solo home run in the fourth inning and another in the sixth.

“I’m seeing the ball better,” McMahon said. “I’m relaxed more, and I’m not as jumpy. I’m not worried about selling out to certain pitches. I’m just taking what the game gives me right now.”

Sunday marked the second multihomer game of his career, both of them coming this season and both against Philadelphia. He also hit two home runs against the Phillies on April 18 at Coors Field. McMahon is 7-for-20 with a double, four home runs, eight RBIs and three walks against the Phillies this season.

With his leadoff home run, Charlie Blackmon now has 33 in his career, tied for 12th on baseball’s all-time list with Hall of Famer Paul Molitor. Among active players, only Ian Kensler (48), Curtis Granderson (47) and Ichiro Suzuki (37) have more. Blackmon has 41.8 percent of all Colorado’s leadoff homers in franchise history (33 of 79). … Catcher Chris Iannetta’s single in the second inning was his 800th career hit.