Freeland is fire, Dahl does damage in Rockies first win of 2019

The Colorado Rockies looked every bit the complete team they hope to be in their first contest of 2019 against the Miami Marlins.

Starter Kyle Freeland pitched well and deep into the game. The batting order got contributions up and down the lineup, the young players were pivotal, and the bullpen put the game away without much drama.

Baseball is back.

And in a place that has been a House of Horrors, the Rockies could not have gotten off to a better first step in the long marathon of the 162-game season.

Colorado broke through in the fourth inning with their first rally of 2019, started by, Nolan Arenado. Who else?

The perennial All-Star with the shiny new contract opened the frame by pulling a double hard on the ground just inside the third base bag. The Rockies got fortunate on a Trevor Story ground ball to short when Miguel Rojas uncorked a wild throw, putting runners at the corners with nobody out.

David Dahl, who recorded the first hit of the Rockies season in the second, recorded the first RBI of the Rockies season by lining a single to left, scoring Arenado and moving Story to third.

Story and Dahl were both able to round the bases on Ryan McMahon’s first contribution of the campaign, another hard liner that split the defense and rolled almost all the way to the wall when it was misplayed in center field, allowing him to reach third base.

McMahon trotted home on a Chris Iannetta double into the gap, making it a four-run inning.

The Rockies added a pair of runs in the fifth on a monster home run from Story over the wall in left and back-to-back doubles from Dahl and Ian Desmond.

That also made it a three-hit afternoon for Dahl.

The Marlins finally struck in the sixth when JT Riddle ran into a fastball that Freeland left over the middle of the plate, and hammered it over the wall in right. It was only their second hit of the game.

Miami managed another run in the eighth on a pinch-hit solo blast from Neil Walker against the first pitch of the regular season for reliever Scott Oberg.

Oberg settled in and retired the next three in order.

Seunghwan Oh came on to close things out with a four-run lead in the ninth. He surrendered a solo shot to Jorge Alfaro but, like Oberg, was otherwise perfect and set the game down without any further incident.

And that secured the 6-3 win and gives the Rockies a chance to win their first series in Miami since 2013.

Final Stats

Kyle Freeland: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Scott Oberg: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Seunghwan Oh: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

David Dahl: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI

Trevor Story: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (1)

Chris Iannetts: 2-for-3, BB, RBI

Nolan Areando: 1-for-4, 1 R

Ian Desmond: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

Ryan McMahon: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

What’s Next

The second game in Miami sees German Marquez look to continue upon his record-breaking 2018. He takes on Trevor Richards. First pitch at 5:10 Mountain Time.