The shining bullpen effort behind Kyle Freeland should ease the pain of his blister that forced him off the mound Tuesday night.
Justin Lawrence, Angel Chivilli, Tyler Kinley and Victor Vodnik combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings to protect a narrow lead supplied by timely two-out hitting, and the Rockies held off the Mets for a 6-3 series-opening win at Coors Field.
Freeland, who has been outstanding since his return from the injured list in June, pitched into the fifth inning before a blister on his left index finger caused manager Bud Black to visit the mound with a trainer. The stoppage was timed to perfection with fans abandoning their seats due to rain, which later caused a tarp-free, nine-minute delay. In front of a distracted audience, Freeland stayed in the game to face one more batter, gave up his third run on a single to Brandon Nimmo, then was pulled from the game. Nimmo had advanced to second, representing the tying run.
“Developed in the fourth. Didn’t know that it was developing. It never got hot on me, which usually these things kind of do,” Freeland said of the blister. “And then got in the dugout. Saw that it had formed. Popped it. Got rid of it. Shaved down the nail a little bit to get rid of the corner. And it ended up just really blowing up in the fifth there, getting really big. Unfortunately it was on a pitch that I use a lot, a curveball. And as we saw it getting bigger and kind of losing feeling in that area, kind of had to make a decision there.”
The Mets went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position the rest of the night. Lawrence induced an inning-ending double play from Jesse Winker with runners on the corners in the sixth. The next inning, Black consulted Chivilli after men reached second and third, another threat to tie a 5-3 game at the time. Chivilli got JD Martinez to ground into the third out.
Vodnik worked around a leadoff single to earn the save.
“It’s good for them for sure,” Black said. “They’ll remember this one. … Four pitchers. Two rookies, basically, with Chivilli and Vodnik in the seventh and the ninth, sandwiched between Kinley and Lawrence. But there might be some more young guys coming, too. This breeds confidence, when you have a game like this.”
Eight of the game’s nine runs were scored with two outs, most notably Jake Cave’s fifth home run of the season. His two-run shot to the opposite field lifted the Rockies to a 4-2 lead in the fourth that they never relinquished.
Up until then, they had relied on a small measure of luck to scrap back from an early 2-0 deficit. Mets third baseman Mark Vientos, chasing down an errant relay throw from Harrison Bader, fumbled the ball into his own dugout through a fortuitous hole in the netting at one point. If the netting wasn’t ripped in the precise spot where Vientos was trying to pick up the ball, it wouldn’t have trickled out of play, and Colorado wouldn’t have been granted the free extra base that allowed Brendan Rodgers to walk home.
That was the Rockies’ first run. Their second was assisted by a bobble in the right-field corner that allowed Rodgers to score from first on Elias Diaz’s two-out double, setting up Cave’s homer.
Rodgers, Diaz and Kris Bryant each contributed two hits to the win, which the Rockies hope can ignite a bounce-back home stand after their 3-7 trip to California.
Freeland’s availability for another home start later this week is up in the air for now. He has a career-spanning history with blisters, including a 2019 IL stint, and generally feels confident he can handle them without them hindering his pitch mix. But he acknowledged that “I don’t know about this one” as far as its potential to cause a delay in his schedule. Freeland entered Tuesday’s outing with a 2.91 ERA in his last seven starts since returning from the IL.
“This (blister) got pretty big on me,” he said. “Usually I’m able to kind of keep it down as much as possible. This one, we’ll shoot it up with zinc. And we’ll see how it kind of feels over the next few days and make a decision.”
“We’re hoping that he bounces back and will be OK,” Black said, “but we’re crossing our fingers here on this one.”
Nolan Jones pauses rehab assignment for birth of child
Nolan Jones’ rehab assignment was put on pause due to the birth of his first child “a couple of days ago,” Black said Tuesday.
Jones is currently back in Denver with his wife and newborn, but he will return to the minors to resume his rehab soon. The 26-year-old left fielder has missed more than half this season due to back and knee injuries.
Wednesday’s pitching matchup
Mets RHP Paul Blackburn (5-2, 4.11 ERA) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-10, 4.97)
6:40 p.m. Wednesday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Making his 23rd start of the season, Feltner is hoping to navigate the Rockies to a result that reflects the recent quality of his pitching more accurately than his current win-loss record does. In his last seven outings, he has an ERA of 2.88 that ranks seventh in the National League since June 26. He has posted three consecutive quality starts, surpassing 90 pitches in all three. Overall, he’s one of six MLB pitchers with 10 or more losses this season despite an ERA under 5.00. This will be Feltner’s third career matchup against the Mets. He is 0-2 against them with a 7.71 ERA.
Blackburn will make his second start for New York after being acquired from Oakland at the trade deadline July 30. The 30-year-old went six innings in his Mets debut, allowing one run and striking out six on the way to a win over the Angels. It was also just his second start since returning from the injured list, where he was stuck from May 11 to July 26 with a stress fracture in his right foot. His only career start against the Rockies was an 11-3 win at Coors Field last July. Blackburn tossed six strong innings without issuing a walk. This season, he has struggled more on the road, with a 6.39 ERA in six starts.
Pitching probables
Thursday: Mets LHP David Peterson (5-1, 3.47) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (3-6, 4.66), 1:10 p.m.
Friday: Braves TBA at Rockies TBA, 6:40 p.m.
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