Cleveland Rocked: Freeland fires first-place Rox to another big win

DENVER – On a perfect Wednesday afternoon in downtown Denver, the Colorado Rockies played a beautiful game of baseball. Rookie starter Kyle Freeland was phenomenal once again in front of his hometown crowd, the gold glove defense showed up throughout, and they got the timely hitting they needed from the players who are supposed to power the offense … and who have been all season.

The Rockies loaded the bases in the third after not collecting a hit in the first two innings. Trevor Story began things with a single up the middle and Ryan Hanigan surprisingly drew a walk but Freeland’s sac bunt attempt failed to move the runners over, a nice spinning throw from Bauer cutting down Story on the force at third. After Charlie Blackmon walked to load them up, DJ LeMahieu hit a soft grounder that wasn’t hard enough to turn a double play but third baseman Jose Ramirez made a nice play, coming home with it to get another force out and keep it scoreless.

That meant Nolan Arenado would have to deliver with two outs and after getting down 0-2, it looked like the Rockies might blow this golden opportunity. But Bauer made a mistake on a fastball and Arenado drove it into the right-center field gap for a two-run double to put Colorado on top 2-0.

Mark Reynolds nearly drew a walk to bring in another, in fact, he thought he had but a borderline (at best) 3-1 pitch was called a strike and he ended up getting punched out to end the frame.

Cleveland got a lead-off double from Fransisco Lindor in the next half-frame, giving them excellent odds toward getting at least one run back. But Michael Brantley hit a pop out to middle-center-field and Lindor decided to test Blackmon’s arm. He failed that test when, after a brilliant diving tag on the other end from Arenado and a video review, he was ruled out, ending the Indians attempt to start a rally.

.@Chuck_Nazty and Nolan Arenado are good at everything! https://t.co/QI8BauEYCH pic.twitter.com/5QwOppl1zz

— MLB (@MLB) June 7, 2017

Their frustration surely intensified when the Rockies added again in the bottom of the fourth, getting another two-out, two-strike, two-RBI double, this time from MLB-hits leader Blackmon.

The fourth inning was emblematic of Charlie Blackmon as a baseball player, getting it done with the bat and the glove and his mental approach. What might have been a 2-1 game with a lesser player in his shoes was a 4-0 lead for the home team.

Later in the game, to no effect on the outcome, Carlos Gonzalez hit one of the hardest hit balls I’ve ever seen, coming off the bat at 113 mph and landing in the party deck area approximately 480 feet away from home plate. Jake Shapiro caught up with the man who caught the ball:

Mike Bivins caught CarGo’s 113mph rocket foul ball with one hand, his right. It was swollen. The first thing he told me, “my hand hurts.” pic.twitter.com/0807egcKkl

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) June 7, 2017

Arenado added an RBI triple (off the wall in center) in the sixth to make it 5-0.

Cleveland finally got a run off of Freeland in the seventh on a solo home run from Ramirez. Austin Jackson followed that up with a single which chased Freeland from the game, replaced by Chris Rusin.

Rusin, who has been fantastic in 2017 for the Rockies, worked out of the seventh without allowing the inherited runner to score, finishing things off with a nice defensive play of his own. Rusin has appeared in 21 games for Colorado in 2017 and has posted a 2.30.

Freeland’s final line: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. He threw 64 of his 100 pitches for strikes. His record improves to 7-3 and his ERA sits at a cool 3.34.

The Rockies added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh despite getting just one hit in the inning, a double from Reynolds. That was followed by a fielder’s choice from Ian Desmond, a fielder’s choice error where Story reached, a double steal, a walk to Hanigan, and a wild pitch that scored one. Pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia drove in another with a groundout to first base to make it 7-1.

Jake McGee pitched the eighth with no drama.

The home team grabbed one more run in the eighth on an RBI single from Desmond who, along with Arenado, ended up with a three-hit day.

With two runs scored and two RBI in the game, Charlie Blackmon moved to third place in MLB in both categories. He extended his own lead in hits which now stands at 83, with second place six hits behind.

Chad Qualls came on with the seven-run lead in the ninth and got the job done with little fanfare, securing the win.

Colorado moved to 38-23 on the season. They did not reach 38 wins until July 5th in 2016. They are now 15 games above .500, a status they have held for only 46 days in their entire history.