Following the Rockies’ 10-2 Game 1 loss to the Tigers on Thursday afternoon, veteran left-handed starter Kyle Freeland was honest and emotional.
When asked to compare what his reeling Rockies are doing to turn things around versus what teams such as the Tigers and Royals have done, the Colorado native was blunt.
“What they’re doing is right, what we’re doing is wrong,” he said. “And we’re not winning baseball games. We’re playing a bad brand of baseball, all the way around. Pitching, fielding, hitting. It’s bad.”
Things didn’t improve in Game 2, which ended with utility infielder Alan Trejo pitching in the ninth inning.
Detroit romped, 11-1, to complete a three-game series sweep and send Colorado to its sixth consecutive loss. In being outscored 21-3 in the doubleheader (a minus-18 run differential), the Rockies tied for the largest negative run differential in a doubleheader sweep in franchise history. On July 15, 2019, Colorado lost 2-1 and 19-2 to San Francisco.
For the record, Trejo gave up a leadoff single to Colt Keith, got Riley Greene to ground into a double play, and closed out the ninth inning by inducing Spencer Torkelson to chop out to short.
The Rockies’ 6-31 record is tied with the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the worst 37-game start in the Modern Era. (That doesn’t include teams that played to ties in the early 1900s). Colorado’s .162 winning percentage has the club on pace to finish 26-136.
It’s hard to imagine the Rockies will play this poorly for the entire season, but they are stuck in a hard place right now.
“We have to start winning, losing sucks,” said two-time Gold Glove center fielder Brenton Doyle, who’s stuck in a 7-for-56 slump that has dropped his average to .218. “There are not many guys in here who like losing, so it’s been kind of tough. So we have to find a spark. That’s just baseball sometimes. You go through some tough stretches.”
Manager Bud Black said the solution is to “keep battling and keep going.”
“This is a situation where you can’t crawl under a rock,” he said. “You have to keep going. You have to have your chest out and your chin up and keep going forward. That’s all you can do with this group of 26 guys.”
How bad was Game 1? Here’s an example in four snapshots:
• Second baseman Adael Amador whiffed on his throw back into the infield in Detroit’s two-run first inning and was charged with an error.
• Trejo muffed Zach McKinstry’s grounder at shortstop for another error in the Tigers’ five-run second.
• Catcher Hunter Goodman allowed a throw to home to scoot under his glove for Colorado’s third error in the Tigers’ two-run third. The error was officially charged to right fielder Mickey Moniak on the throw.
• Freeland displayed his frustration via body language on an afternoon when he was rocked for nine runs (five earned) on 11 hits in three innings.
Freeland said the mistakes behind him were not what fed his agitation on the mound.
“I was frustrated with myself,” he said. “I wasn’t making pitches. Stuff was up in the zone — easy stuff for them to pick up and hit.”
While Colorado’s defense and pitching were bad in the first game, its offense was AWOL against Detroit right-hander Casey Mize.
Mize gave up one run on three hits, struck out eight and walked none over six innings. At one point, Mize set down 13 in a row.
Colorado’s lone run came off Mize in the fifth on a one-out single by Nick Martini, a double to left by Moniak, and a sacrifice fly by Trejo. The sun-splashed crowd responded with a sarcastic LoDo Cheer.
Detroit pounded 14 hits while the Rockies had four, including a triple by Jordan Beck in the ninth that became the Rockies’ second run on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Goodman.
In Game 2, the Tigers ambushed right-hander Tanner Gordon for six runs on seven hits in the third inning, the biggest blow, a three-run double by Gleyber Torres.
Gordon, called up from Triple-A Albuquerque for the start, at least gave the Rockies some needed length on the mound and gave the overworked bullpen a break. He pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs on 10 hits, striking out four and walking one.
Keith supplied the Game 2 fireworks in the seventh inning. He hit a towering, 450-foot homer into the second deck above right field off Tyler Kinley.
Freeland, who considers himself a team leader, was blunt.
“When you’ve got no momentum going for yourself, you’ve got no momentum going with your offense or defense, you’re not going to have anything,” he said, describing the team’s current state. “You’re trying to throw (stuff) against the wall and see what’s going to stick. It’s not a way of winning baseball games on a consistent basis.”
Freeland was then asked what could be said to Rockies fans.
“Keep believing in us,” he said as he started to tear up. ” ‘Keep ridin’.”
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Originally Published: May 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM MDT
