Freeland looks towards the light as he navigates adversity in outings

DENVER -- If you walked through the Rockies’ dugout prior to Wednesday night’s 7-3 loss to the Braves at Coors Field, you might have seen a strange sight.

One of the light fixtures on the ceiling has some writing on the outer frame, in purple marker.

“I’m sorry,” it reads. “Get well soon.”

Following that brief apology, you’d have seen Kyle Freeland’s signature. That’s because the left-hander took a bat and bashed the light in, sending debris everywhere before chucking the lumber away in disgust following a rough outing against the Padres on July 14, 2022.

It’s been a trying year-plus for Freeland and his Rockies since then. In being swept by Atlanta on Wednesday, Colorado’s loss total reached 84 on the penultimate day of August. And for a rebuilding team still trying to form a core identity for the next chapter of its history, it appears things may get more difficult before they get better, despite glimmers of hope from young players like Ezequiel Tovar and Nolan Jones.

Those two promising prospects, in particular, figured into Wednesday’s loss prominently, reminding us that with big hits and great defensive plays come mishaps in the field and on the base paths for emerging young players.

Tovar made an errant throw while trying to initiate a 6-4-3 double play, leading to an Atlanta run in the top of the fourth inning. And in the bottom of the fourth, Jones took off from second base on a ground ball to shortstop, getting thrown out at third.

Freeland, meanwhile, was on the mound. And his start was, in some ways, a microcosm of his Major League career to this point.

The 30-year-old southpaw looked great early on, giving up a run on a Kevin Pillar homer, but needing only 39 pitches to get through three innings against the most powerful lineup in baseball.

It was much like the early days of Freeland’s big league career -- over his first two seasons, he had a 3.39 ERA and finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting for a sensational 2018 campaign. That fall, he tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings in the only postseason game the Rockies have won in the last 14 years, a Wild Card Game victory over the Cubs.

Back to Wednesday. Things started to unravel in the fourth primarily due to the aforementioned sloppy defense from the normally sure-handed Tovar. But Freeland persevered and limited the damage to two runs by doing what he does best when he’s on -- he induced ground-ball outs from Travis d’Arnaud and Orlando Arcia before getting Pillar to pop out to end the threat.

It was reminiscent of Freeland enduring the worst season of his career in 2019 -- a campaign during which he was demoted to the Minor Leagues and ended up with a 6.73 ERA in 22 Major League starts -- before righting the ship in his uniquely gritty fashion with a 114 ERA+ over his next two seasons.

Wednesday’s sixth inning would spell the end of Freeland’s night after he surrendered a Marcell Ozuna solo homer and a two-run shot by Arcia.

While it wasn’t a pleasant experience for the ultra-competitive Freeland, it wasn’t all bad. That’s because his fastball velocity averaged 91 mph, a significant bump from his 88.5 mph average fastball velocity for the season.

Freeland said a mechanical fix with his arm slot has pushed his velocity back up after a concerning drop this year.

“I think I pitched better than the line indicates,” Freeland said. “ … Overall, I made three mistakes. … Having the velo up has helped me with confidence, pitch mix and knowing [the fastball] is there for me.”

Much like what he had to do between the fourth and sixth innings, Freeland has been battling adversity the past two seasons, whether due to mechanical lapses, lack of run support, diminishing velocity or other obstacles.

But he’s still Kyle Freeland, and that means he’s going to scratch and claw his way to solid overall production -- even with all the peaks and valleys, he owns a career ERA+ of 112, 12 percent better than the average pitcher during his tenure in the Majors.

Still, Wednesday wasn’t his idea of a good day at the office.

“Those are the kinds of starts that really eat at you,” he said.

But certainly not as much as Freeland’s start on July 14, 2022, did. All this time later, the clearly legible apology on the once-destroyed light fixture serves as a memento signifying the intensity and indefatigability of the man who penned it.