Freeland's Mastery Continues as Rockies Get Upper Hand Against Giants

From whatever universe Kyle Freeland is in right now, don't wake him up. Freeland is turning into one or the steadiest starting pitchers on the Colorado Rockies. It's not been a great season record-wise and ERA-wise for Freeland. Yet he's seemingly put those numbers behind him and has just rocketed into a new dimension these days for Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer and his teammates. Entering Friday night's series opener for the Rockies against the San Francisco Giants, the ballclub needed to make a statement. Freeland must have read that statement because he took up the mantle and ran with it. Freeland worked eight innings, giving up just one earned run on a home run, and helped move Colorado within one game of getting into fourth place in the National League West Division. Freeland also had 13 ground ball outs in his start. Freeland was quite solid Through eight innings, Freeland just allowed four hits and that earned run. He walked one and struck out two. Maybe the better storyline besides his outing is that the Rockies' bullpen didn't need to come in this one early. Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer now has additional options as this series rolls along. What a way for Colorado to get the upper hand as the Giants just continue to flail away and wonder what happened this season. Colorado got on the board in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, TJ Rumfield singled to left field. Troy Johnston followed with a triple to right field, scoring Rumfield all the way from first base. San Francisco tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Bryce Eldridge's 13th home run this season. But the Rockies put together runs in the fifth and sixth innings to gain control. In the fifth, Brett Sullivan led off with a double to right field. Jake McCarthy grounded out, moving Sullivan to third base. Mickey Moniak hit into a fielder's choice and Sullivan scored to put Colorado up 2-1. Veen to the Cove Then, in the sixth, Connor Norby walked and moved to second on a wild pitch by Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp. That set things up for Zac Veen to step to the plate and mash his second homer, a shot over the right-field wall that landed in McCovey Cove.  This little tidbit comes from the Rockies Club Information account on X: "Zac Veen is the first Rockie to have a splash hit since Charlie Blackmon (June 7, 2022) and the fourth Rockie in franchise history to do so overall (fifth time), joining Blackmon, Cory Dickerson and Carlos González (x2)." Colorado was up 4-1 at that point. The Rockies added another run in the ninth to make it 5-1. But Rockies reliever Brennan Bernardino gave up a leadoff triple to Jonah Cox and Rafael Devers followed with a double down the left-field line. That closed the gap to 5-2, and that was the final score on Friday night. McCarthy made a heck of a diving catch in center field for the second out of the inning. After the play was reviewed, umpires confirmed the call on the field. Willi Castro made a catch over the railing of the dugout to wrap up the victory. Despite their poor record, the Rockies have shown a knack for rallying when it matters. They did not need to rally here, though, as jumping out early and often provided a big-time victory. In case you didn't notice, Colorado already has more wins this season than they did all season long in 2025. Getting this victory gives the team momentum going into two afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday at Oracle Park, In looking at the probable starting pitcher matchups, San Francisco does have an edge there. Anything can happen, though, so keep your eyes on how things play out on the field.