Colorado-born pitchers duel in 'a night to remember'

NEW YORK -- Two mile-high southpaws came to sea level for a friendly pitchers' duel at Citi Field on Saturday, as Kyle Freeland and David Peterson faced each other for the first time.

Freeland and Peterson are both Colorado natives who grew up in the Denver area; Freeland went to Thomas Jefferson High School, and Peterson went to Regis Jesuit. They're both lefty starters. They were both first-round Draft picks, with Freeland selected eighth overall by his hometown team in 2014 and Peterson going to New York with the 20th overall pick in ‘17.

But more than that, the Rockies’ Freeland and the Mets’ Peterson are good buddies. And six years after they became friends, they finally got to take the mound head to head in Colorado's 3-0 loss to New York.

"It's one of those experiences that not many people get the opportunity to have," Freeland said. "And when you do, you definitely try to soak it all in, and you hope that both sides have great showings, and you get to have fun together -- which I think we did tonight."

Freeland and Peterson have been hanging out in New York -- and talking about their coming matchup -- since the Rockies arrived for the series. On Saturday, before the game, they met briefly in the outfield, high-fiving and giving each other a quick hug. They wished each other good luck.

Then they took the mound -- the 12th head-to-head matchup all-time between Colorado-born starting pitchers -- and they each pitched a good ballgame.

Freeland went five innings and allowed only two runs, continuing a strong string of road starts against contenders. His last four outings away from Coors Field have come against the Brewers, Padres, Cardinals and Mets; in those four outings, Freeland has a 2.66 ERA.

Facing a strong contact-hitting Mets lineup on Saturday, Freeland used his sinker-slider combo more heavily than usual to get outs on balls in play. He only struck out two, but he made those strikeouts count. One was against Pete Alonso, with a backdoor slider to punch out the Mets' most dangerous bat. The other was a rebound K of Brandon Nimmo -- the only hitter to plague Freeland, with a homer and RBI double in his first two at-bats -- to kick-start a 1-2-3 fifth inning for Freeland against the top of the Mets’ order in his final frame.

But Peterson was even sharper. He pitched six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts to beat Freeland.

"We said hello before the game and both went to work," Peterson said. "He threw well. It's just, our offense doesn't give up and doesn't give in, and they'll fight until they succeed."

Freeland and Peterson met when Peterson was at Oregon. Peterson had actually been drafted out of Regis Jesuit by the Red Sox in the same 2014 Draft in which Freeland went to the Rockies, but he chose to go to college. The two of them kept training together as Peterson joined Freeland in pro ball, and they only became closer friends over the years. This past offseason, Peterson and his wife were in Freeland's wedding.

"I was happy to be able to compete against him," Freeland said. "It was the first time -- and I don't know if we'll be able to do it again. I hope we do. But if not, it'll definitely be a night to remember for me."