Freeland escapes scare, Arenado homers in loss to A's

Some days, the goal is just getting through it.

Colorado Rockies fans took one gigantic collective breath when starter Kyle Freeland took the mound in the third but did not throw a pitch, walking back to the dugout with his hand on his back. Fortunately, it was later reporter that the move was precautionary after a bit of tightness and the club expects him to be back out there in a few days.

That good news made the fact that they lost the February Spring Training game 5-2 to the Oakland Athletics more than an afterthought.

There were a few interesting notes from the contest, however.

Player of the Game – Nolan Arenado

The rest of the starters had come out of the game, but Arenado clearly wanted one more at-bat and made the best of it. In the seventh, he launched one over the wall in center for his first round-tripper of the spring. It also tied the game at 2-2.

Runner Up: Ashton Goudeau

The big surprise of the Rockies system in 2019, Goudeau posted an insane 2.07 ERA over 78.1 innings in Double-A last year and then went scoreless in 13 innings at the Arizona Fall League. At 26-years-old, he is on the older side for a prospect but also has all the signs of a typical late bloomer. He pitched two frames in this one and gave up just one hit, keeping his spring ERA at 0.00.

Turning Point – Seth Brown’s 8th Inning Double

A game without much scoring suddenly broke open for the A’s in the eighth when Seth Brown leaned on an offering from Julian Fernandez and doubled on a liner to right. That put Oakland back on top at 3-2 and began a rally that saw them plate two more to make it a 5-2 final.

Stat of the Game: Kyle Freeland – 2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Apart from the scary moment when he had to leave the game, and a solo wall-scraping home run off the bat of Chad Pinder, Freeland looked like exactly the kind of pitcher he needs to be to get back on track. He began the day with three weak groundball outs and continued to get soft contact (other than that one swing) in the second.

Diamond Details

• Bryan Shaw replaced Freeland and immediately gave up a run after a four-pitch walk, a single and a sac fly. He settled in and prevented further damage. His early spring ERA sits at 13.50
• Lefty Tim Collins pitched a clean inning with a pair of punchouts, giving him three scoreless frames so far this spring
• Yency Almonte gave up a hit and struck out a batter in his inning of work and has not allowed a run yet either
• With a base hit in two at-bats, Raimel Tapia moved into a tie with Josh Fuentes for second most hits so far (4) behind Bret Boswell (6)
• Elias Diaz also went 1-for-2, is hitting .667, and has not yet struck out

Final Thoughts

Good to see Freeland back on the bump and looking fine after a scare. He also appeared locked in on the mound. The longer the relievers with big contract are outpitched by these other guys (in this one Collins and Almonte) the tougher it is going to be to justify keeping them on the roster.

Up Next

In the first night game of the year, Colorado will take on the San Francisco Giants at 7:05 PM Mountain Time on Friday.