If the wider baseball world hasn’t taken notice of what the Colorado Rockies are doing this season, they may have a powerful advocate telling their story after Wednesday’s game. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was in Denver and saw Colorado handily defeat the defending AL champion Cleveland Indians for the second straight game. Manfred was witness to another solid outing by a Rockies rookie pitcher and a complete offensive effort to give Colorado its NL-best 38th win of the year, 8-1.
Kyle Freeland picked up his seventh win, throwing 6.1 impressive innings on 100 pitches. Freeland struck out five and allowed only a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to drop his ERA to 3.34 on the year. It was Freeland’s first start as a professional without issuing a walk. Chris Rusin posted another effective relief outing, stranding a pair of runners in the seventh inning. Jake McGee needed only 10 pitches to work a clean eighth and Chad Qualls sealed things in the ninth.
Nolan Arenado led the way for the Rockies at the plate, going 3-for-5 in the game with three RBIs. He was a home run shy of the cycle. Charlie Blackmon had two hits, two runs and two RBIs to raise his season average to .333. Ian Desmond had three base hits and a pair of runs scored. Trevor Story had a hit and a pair of walks, scoring twice. Freeland even got in on the action with a hit and run scored. Indians manager Terry Francona used eight pitchers to complete eight innings, allowing nine walks on the day.
Colorado continues its six-game stretch against last year’s World Series participants when they travel to Chicago on Thursday. The Rockies and Cubs will play four games at Wrigley Field before heading off to Pittsburgh. By this time next week, the Rockies will have played 22 road games over the span of a month (May 16 to June 14).
