Kyle Freeland pitched six scoreless innings to boost the Colorado Rockies to a 4-0 win over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday in Denver.
Freeland struck out eight Phillies and allowed four hits and one walk.
Aaron Nola battled to give Philadelphia seven innings of work, allowing four earned runs on six hits.
Charlie Blackmon scored half the Rockies’ runs with a 2-for-4 day at the plate. Kris Bryant also went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Brenton Doyle hit a solo home run, and CJ Cron tallied the other RBI for Colorado.
Bryson Stott, Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto all posted two hits for Philadelphia.
The Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Blackmon singled, Jurickson Profar walked and Bryant singled to load the bases. Cron grounded into a fielder’s choice at second, but two runs came home after a throwing error from shortstop Turner.
Cron left the game after he popped out to end the third inning. He appeared to injure himself as he ran out of the batter’s box.
Colorado extended its lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth. Doyle launched a homer on his birthday, the rookie’s second big-league bomb and first in front of the Coors Field crowd. Blackmon followed up with a double down the left-field line and Bryant singled up the middle to bring him home.
Philadelphia’s woes continued in the top of the sixth. Nick Castellanos made it to second due to third baseman Ryan McMahon’s throwing error. Kyle Schwarber then struck out looking in a full count on a pitch he thought was up and Phillies manager Rob Thomson agreed, soon getting ejected after arguing with the umpires. Realmuto struck to end the inning.
Things got interesting once again in the top of the seventh. After the Rockies got out of a jam, Colorado pitcher Jake Bird exchanged some words with Bryce Harper in the Phillies dugout and the benches and bullpens cleared. No punches were thrown but both Harper and Bird went to their locker rooms.
–Field Level Media
