Kyle Freeland and Madison Bumgarner were mired in a pitcher’s duel through seven scoreless innings. Both teams handed it over to the bullpen for the eighth and ninth. Scott Oberg tossed a scoreless eighth and got the first out of the ninth inning, but Harrison Musgrave gave up a home run to Brandon Crawford in the ninth, which gave the Giants a 1-0 win. The Rockies season record falls to 38-42.
Kyle Freeland, guys
Five starting pitchers have started 16 games for the Rockies in 2018, and Kyle Freeland has easily been the best of the five. He was outstanding on Wednesday, limiting the Giants to just four hits through seven shutout innings. Freeland struck out four and walked one. The outing lowered Freeland’s ERA to 3.29 on the season. Yes, it’s only half of a season, but that kind of ERA is extremely rare for a Rockies starter. Only four times in Rockies history has starting pitcher who threw at least 98 innings (Freeland has thrown 981⁄3) finished with an ERA of 3.30 or lower. Freeland had an impressive rookie season in 2017, but he’s been even better in 2018.
Run support though
If only the Rockies were able to give Freeland some run support. As good as Kyle was on Wednesday night, Madison Bumgarner was just a little better (or, the Rockies offense was just a little worse, depending on how you want to look at it). The Rockies didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning, and Bumgarner allowed just two hits while striking out eight in his seven shutout innings. Even a single run would have really come in handy.
Up next
The Rockies will try to avoid a sweep, as they and the Giants finish their three-game set Thursday afternoon. Jon Gray will face Chris Stratton, and first pitch is scheduled for 1:45 MT.