Freeland's strong 7-inning outing wasted by Rox's bats

KANSAS CITY -- Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland refuses to have two straight bad outings in 2023.

And in a 2-0 loss to the Royals on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium, Freeland had just about everything working.

The Denver native set down the first 13 batters in a season-high seven-inning outing, tying his own record for the longest start by a Colorado pitcher this season. It was the third time in his last eight starts that he allowed three or fewer runs after allowing four or more in his previous outing.

After giving up five runs on six hits and three walks against the D-backs on May 30, Freeland didn’t walk a single batter Sunday and kept Kansas City off the bases until the fifth inning.

Freeland, 30, did it without his most reliable pitch, too. After throwing his sinker 30.9% of the time so far this season, the most by any of his pitches by over 10%, Freeland threw it just 12 times (13%) against the Royals. Instead, he threw his slider 40 times, which generated 10 whiffs on 28 swings.

“The slider was really good today,” Freeland said. “Curveball was not there at all ... but we saw that the slider at the start [of the game] was really good, and we used that.

“[Catcher Austin Wynns] was doing a really nice job behind the plate understanding what was working well for me today and we stuck to that.”

Freeland pitched to contact, generating seven ground balls in the first three innings, by attacking the zone and forcing the Royals' batters to swing. He struck out only one batter despite pitching into the eighth, but that was more than fine by Freeland.

“[The Royals] were firing immediately ... swinging at the ball,” Freeland. “When I see that from a team, it just comes down to execution. If you execute your pitches, they’re going to get themselves out and you’re going to keep that pitch count low. I think I came out of the eighth with 89 pitches, so I still had room to go, but in a 2-0 ballgame you have to make a managerial decision, which Bud [Black] did.”

A Maikel Garcia solo homer to lead off the eighth ended Freeland’s outing, but tossing seven solid was crucial for a Colorado squad that played on a 17th consecutive day Sunday and had to get 6 2/3 innings out of the ‘pen Saturday.

“Definitely knew coming in that the bullpen needed a break,” Freeland said. “Obviously, I’m always trying to go deep into games every single start, but knowing that they really needed a blower there, especially on this [17]-game heater we just ended, it was nice to see myself get into the eighth inning.”

However, for the fourth time in his past six starts, Freeland walked back to the dugout with zero runs of support. He’s had just one run of support in his past four starts, but hasn’t had a single run of support in his last four road starts.

“Kyle has been around so he knows there are going to be games like that where you get locked in a duel with the other pitching staff,” Rockies manager Bud Black said after his team won two of three in Kansas City. “It’s part of the game as you play a six-month season. I just said ‘Hey, you pitched great.’ There’s not a lot to say. He knows he pitched well … He competed hard, battled.”

The offense was shut out for the second time in the last five games, but Mike Moustakas returned to Kauffman Stadium for the first time with fans in the stands since spending eight years in Kansas City. Moustakas, who was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2007 MLB Draft, was part of the 2015 World Series championship team in Kansas City.

The first baseman had two of the Rockies’ eight hits, and was greeted with a standing ovation before his first at-bat.

“[The reception] doesn’t shock me at all because of the way these people are out here, and the way they were with us all those years that I was here,” Moustakas said. “To be able to finally come back and play in front of them was amazing for me especially. I had a great time.”