The Rockies’ big three carried them to one of their most satisfying victories of the season on Wednesday night at Anaheim Stadium.
Kyle Freeland pitched like an ace, Ezequiel Tovar kept streaking and Benton Doyle provided the muscle in a 2-1 white-knuckle victory over the Angels.
Colorado snapped a five-game losing streak.
And how’s this for a nice change of pace? There was no late-game drama involving Colorado’s bullpen. Right-hander Tyler Kinley took care of business in the eighth with two big strikeouts, and right-hander Victor Vodnik pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.
Doyle, hotter the Front Range weather in July, rocketed reliever Hans Crouse’s 3-1 slider 431 feet to deep left-center for the go-ahead run in the eighth.
Doyle’s game-clinching blast might have won him the National League player-of-the-month award for July. In 25 games, he is hitting .333 with 11 home runs, seven doubles, and 27 RBIs. His 19 extra-base hits led the majors in July.
“It’s been incredible to watch, with him coming through in the clutch right there, it won us the game,” Freeland told reporters. “I absolutely love his defense. And with his offense this year, he’s turned an extreme corner, showing that he can hit for average and power.”
Asked how he rebounded from a tough stretch in June, Doyle told Rockies.TV: “It kind of opens your eyes and tells you that you need to work on something. So I’m thankful that bad streak happened because if it didn’t, I might not be where I am today. I worked really hard and worked with our coaches.”
Freeland was brilliant, conjuring up memories of his 2018 season when he went 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA and finished fourth in voting for the National League Cy Young Award.
“He’s been pitching with confidence inside, and tonight he showed what can happen when he hits that inside corner against a (right-handed heavy) lineup,” manager Bud Black told reporters.
Freeland allowed one run over seven innings, striking out six and walking none. The lefty’s biggest strikeout came in the seventh after he gave up back-to-back, two-out singles to Logan O’Hoppe and Zach Neto. Facing veteran Brandon Drury, Freeland fanned him with a nasty slider.
Freeland’s only mistake was leaving a curveball over the plate in the fifth that O’Hoppe lined over the right-field fence to tie the game 1-1.
Freeland rebounded from a bad performance last Friday night at San Francisco when he struggled to pitch inside and gave up six runs over four innings. Before that blip, however, Freeland had made five consecutive quality starts after coming off the injured list. During that streak, he had a 1.95 ERA.
Freeland said it took just one bullpen session to figure out why he struggled to pitch inside in San Francisco.
“It was a pretty easy correction for me,” said Freeland, who also incorporated an effective changeup Wednesday night to keep the Angels off his fastball.
The Rockies struck quickly, sparked, naturally, by Tovar, to take a 1-0 lead in the first.
Tovar laced a one-out single to left-center, advanced to second on Ryan McMahon’s walk, and scored on Kris Bryant’s two-out bloop single to left.
Tovar extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 straight games, during which he’s hit .423. Tovar owns the longest active streak in the majors and the longest for a Rockies player since Brendan Rodgers’ 20-game streak from May 9 to June 2, 2022.
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