PHOENIX — The Rockies insist they are not suffering from Thursday night’s 16-1 loss to the Diamondbacks, but starting pitcher Kyle Freeland definitely learned some valuable lessons.
One important lesson is that he needs to improve his changeup to make it a major weapon for him this season.
To sum up the season opener at Chase Field, Freeland gave up 10 runs on 10 hits in just 2 1/3 innings, including a two-run homer to Lourdes Gurriel in the first inning. The 10 runs he gave up were a career high. The third inning was 34 minutes of batting practice for the D-backs, who had 18 batters at the plate and scored 14 runs, the most in an inning on opening day for any team since 1900. Freeland was responsible for eight of the runs in the inning, and rookie reliever Anthony Molina was charged with the other six.
Freeland admitted his poor pitch placement but praised Arizona’s aggressive hitters.
“They made contact,” Freeland said Thursday night. “That’s what hitters are paid to do — create action on the basepaths — lots of singles and/or doubles, soft-hit balls, seeing-eye ground balls. It was just everything that they were hitting.”
Ahead of Friday’s game, manager Bud Black mentioned that a video review of Freeland’s worst-ever performance provided some clues about what went wrong.
“I suspected that there were some missed locations, and that was the case,” Black said. “If I was going to point out one specific pitch, I would say the changeup was a bit too fast. Some of the changeups were at 88 and 89 mph. The (Christian) Walker double was at 89. The (Ketel) Marte groundball up the middle that (shortstop) Ezequiel (Tovar) almost had was at 88. During spring training, Kyle was aiming to get the changeup down to 85-86.”
Freeland altered the grip on his changeup during the offseason and mentioned during spring training that he was getting more comfortable with the pitch. However, he also acknowledged that the changeup can pose challenges for him.
“That changeup has always been a pitch that’s been a problem,” he said during camp. “You find it, then you lose it and you’re searching for it again. My confidence is definitely back on that pitch.”
Perhaps so, but he struggled with the control of all of his pitches on Thursday night.
“Last night, (there was a lot of) adrenaline, his arm felt good, an extra day’s rest — all of those things,” Black said. “The changeup was just coming in too hot. Too much speed. And the placement of all of his pitches was not like Kyle.
Left-hander Austin Gomber, who’s set to start against Arizona on Saturday, said putting too much emphasis on Freeland’s rough outing would be a mistake.
“You have to have confidence in yourself,” Gomber said. “If you don’t, you shouldn’t be here in the big leagues. There are bad days, we’ve all had them. Everybody is going to have the worst day of their career. That was Kyle’s.
Kyle has the history and the knowledge to recover from that game. I don’t care who you are, there are days when you are going to get beat. If one day is going to affect you that much or affect the way you do your job, then this game’s not for you.
“This is my fourth year with Kyle. I’ve seen him have bad games and come back. Five days from now, he has a chance to be great. That’s one of the best parts of this game.”
Saturday’s pitching matchup
Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (9-9, 5.50 ERA in 2023) at Diamondbacks LHP Tommy Henry (5-4, 4.15)
6:10 p.m. Saturday (MDT), Chase Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Gomber had a rough start last season, going 0-4 with a 12.12 ERA over his first four games before he improved. The Rockies hope this is the year he puts together a season full of strong starts. The lefty had made 83 appearances (67 starts) since joining the Rockies in 2021 as part of the Nolan Arenado trade, going 23-25 with a 5.22 ERA. Gomber is 3-0 with a 5.35 ERA in 10 career games (six starts) against Arizona and he is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three career outings (two starts) at Chase Field.
Henry, who earned a spot in Arizona’s rotation late in spring training, has only faced the Rockies twice, but he dominated them both times, going 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA. On May 31, 2023, he shut out Colorado for seven innings at Chase Field, yielding just two hits, striking out seven and walking two.
Pitching probables
Sunday: Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-4, 5.82) at Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (3-9, 5.72), 2:10 p.m.
Monday: Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (6-3, 4.98) at Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (7-5, 2.66 ERA, in Japan), 12:20 p.m.
Tuesday: Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-1, 38.57 in 2024) at Cubs RHP Javier Assas (10-5, 3.05), 5:40 p.m.
