Determined Freeland finishes season positively

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland’s quality improved in Thursday's 8-3 loss to the Giants, but there’s plenty of time for that. But the competitiveness, even in a final abbreviated start in a season of ineffectiveness and pain, came all the way back.

In his second start since insisting upon returning from a left groin strain, Freeland threw 45 pitches, went three innings and gave up one run on three hits. And on his next-to-last pitch, the demanding attitude that helped him finish fourth in last year’s National League Cy Young Award voting resurfaced.

Freeland was so certain his 2-2 fastball to Kevin Pillar ended the third inning that he began walking toward the dugout without waiting for plate umpire Alex Tosi’s call. Despite what Freeland thought, or what strike-zone imaging showed, Tosi called it a ball.

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With Freeland not afraid to let his displeasure show -- on July 24 he was ejected for yelling from the dugout, after he had finished holding the Nationals to one unearned run in six innings -- catcher Drew Butera stood in the home-plate area to block Tosi’s view of Freeland staring daggers.

“That competitive edge definitely comes out when you’re trying to win a ballgame going into the offseason,” Freeland said. “Even though we’re not playoff contenders, the competitiveness is always going to be there. It’s throughout this entire clubhouse.”

The next pitch, Freeland forced a grounder to first base and sprinted to narrowly beat Pillar to the bag.

Freeland needed the two scoreless innings against the Dodgers in his previous start and a solid performance Thursday. He left his first-pitch changeup over the plate for Mauricio Dubón’s double, and Pillar reached outside the strike zone for a one-out RBI single in the first. Otherwise, Freeland’s location was better than during his early-season struggles.

“There’s not a lot of difference in the stuff,” said Rockies manager Bud Black, who went 106-104 against retiring Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “He’s made better pitches down in the strike zone. It’s only been two outings recently, the changeup is much better.”

Freeland plans for the smooth delivery he demonstrated Thursday to be the one seen in 2020. In the past, Freeland has had dramatic pauses, either during his kick to the plate or (earlier this year) at the top of the windup. He feels good with his current mechanics.

“The offseason is for strengthening your body and conditioning, not so much throwing,” Freeland said. “But once I get throwing again, there are definitely going to be keys and goals that I’m going to want to hit going into Spring Training and throughout Spring Training. I’ll write down what I feel and what I know are right so I can go back to it: ‘This is what I was feeling when I was going well.’”

Freeland's final numbers are 3-11 with a 6.73 ERA in 22 starts. His bio for the season includes a six-week option to Triple-A Albuquerque and a groin injury on Aug. 20 that kept him out until his game at Dodger Stadium last Saturday night. But it was important for Freeland to finish strong and go into the offseason feeling good about his mechanical and mental findings and adjustments.

“The most important thing is Kyle’s coming out of this last week healthy, competing, feeling good about where he is, physically and mentally,” Black said. “The thing that stood out to me is that Kyle wanted to come back. It would’ve been easy just to let the season play out and not finish, but Kyle’s a player. Players play. Pitchers pitch.”