Kyle Freeland pitches Rockies into reclamation of first place in NL West

After a series against the Washington Nationals where the Colorado Rockies got their collective asses handed to them, allowing enough runs to populate an isolated village, the baseball club from the Rocky Mountains remembered that their new identity is to win games with pitching, defense, and timely hitting. The Rockies had Kyle Freeland pitching against still-young Robbie Ray of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

And the Denver-native emerged victorious yet again in a 3-1 win for the Rockies.

Colorado got on the board in the first when a heating-up Carlos Gonzalez singled up the middle, scoring Nolan Arenado who just missed hitting his eighth home run of the season, instead settling for the double. Gonzalez hit a double off the wall later in the game off of the lefty Ray. A very encouraging sign for the star outfielder who told us yesterday that he feels his swing is coming along (and also that the Rockies have not yet begun any conversations about extending his contract.)

They extended the lead in the third on a solo home run from Trevor Story, a mammoth shot over the center field fence that was hit on a line. Story absolutely destroyed the Diamondbacks a year ago and it seems possible a trip to the desert could cure what ails him.

Arizona got one back in the bottom of that frame with the pesky combination of A.J. Pollock and Paul Goldschmidt who each singled around a walk to Chris Owing.s

In the bottom of the fifth, Freeland ran into a jam after giving up singles to Ray (the opposing pitcher bites the Rockies again) and Owings. Then, with just one out, the pair of Diamondbacks pulled off a double-steal — Pollock had replaced Ray on a fielder’s choice — really putting the pressure on the Rockies rookie pitcher.

But Freeland executed some of his best pitches and probably his best sequence of the year to get Paul Goldschmidt to eventually pop up weak on the infield. A few pitches later, Yasmany Tomas had grounded out weakly to second and what usually turn into a big inning for Arizona, especially with Goldschmidt involved, instead became a huge momentum boost for the Rockies.

He worked through the sixth relatively cleanly (gave up a single erased on a double play) and that finished a great day for the Southpaw from the Centennial State.

Final line: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2K. He threw 58 of his 96 pitches for strikes. Freeland did not allow any extra base hits. He improved his ERA to 2.93.

Chris Rusin struck out the only two batters he faced before being replaced by  Adam Ottavino who was equally impressive over his 1.1 innings of work. Ottavino earned his 10th hold of the season each one paving the way for …

Greg Holland who is now 10-for-10 in save opportunities. He tied Huston Street for the Rockies franchise record for saves in the month of April.

Freeland and the bullpen provided the defense. CarGo, Story and Charlie Blackmon provided the timely hitting. And Story and Blackmon sprinkled in some dazzling defense. That’s the formula.

The Rockies moved to 15-9 and dropped Arizona to 15-10, giving Colorado a half-game lead for first place in the NL West. They are also 8-3 on the road.