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Rockies 3, White Sox 0: South Side Shutout

The Rockies pulled off a somewhat surprising shutout against the White Sox for a series split!

Well I can’t say I saw this coming. The Colorado Rockies—a team that struggles immensely on the road—shut out the Chicago White Sox 3-0 in a matinee affair on the South Side. The Rockies had a tall order facing off against Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease, but scored all three of their runs against him. Fantastic pitching from Kyle Freeland and the bullpen carried the Rockies the rest of the way.

I’m a Kyle Freeland Guy.

Kyle Freeland notched his second straight quality start with 6 23 scoreless innings of work against the White Sox this afternoon. He did work with plenty of traffic, however. Freeland gave up seven hits and walked three batters, but kept the Southsiders off the board for his entire outing thanks to five strikeouts, two induced double plays, and a marvelous catch from Yonathan Daza. Freeland only worked one 1-2-3 inning, a six pitch sixth inning, but kept a low pitch count into the seventh. A walk and a single would end his afternoon despite having two outs, as Buddy Black chose to go to a right-handed reliever with the dangerous switch hitter Yoan Moncada coming to the plate. Freeland’s ERA has now dropped to 4.43 on the season and remains the lowest in the Rockies rotation.

The Bullpen? Also Kyle Freeland Guys.

Carlos Estévez continued his excellent second half out of the Rockies bullpen with a scoreless 1 13 innings this afternoon in relief of Kyle Freeland. Bud Black called on Estévez in the bottom of the seventh to get the final out with two runners on, and Estévez delivered with an inning-ending strikeout. He also pitched the eighth inning, where he struck out the first two batters he faced in that frame. He did allow a double, but no damage would come of it. Estévez now has a season ERA of 3.57 and coming into today’s game he had an ERA of 1.33 since the All-Star Game. Daniel Bard earned his 30th save of the season with a fantastic and drama free 1-2-3 inning in which he struck out the side.

A strange day at the plate.

The Rockies may have walked away with the 3-0 victory, but that doesn’t change the fact they had a strange and sloppy day of offense against the White Sox. Charlie Blackmon continues to slump and put up a golden sombrero with four strikeouts today. The Rockies as a whole struck out 15 times against White Sox pitching, eight of which came against starter Dylan Cease. Randal Grichuk was the only Rockies batter to not strike out, while Ryan McMahon, Brian Serven, and Brendan Rodgers were the only Rockies batters to not have more than one strikeout. Ryan McMahon and Yonathan Daza both had 2-for-4 days at the plate, and Daza is hitting close to .500 since returning from the injured list. The Rockies scored two of their three runs in the second inning. Rookie Michael Toglia drew a walk from Dylan Cease and was driven in by Alan Trejo via an RBI double. Trejo would then score thanks to an RBI single from Yonathan Daza. Their third run came in the fifth inning, where Ryan McMahon doubled to lead off the inning and would be singled in by CJ Cron.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies have the day off tomorrow to enjoy some sights in the Windy City before kicking off a three game set on the other side of town against the Chicago Cubs. Germán Márquez will have the start on Tuesday against Marcus Stroman. First pitch will be at 12:20 PM MDT.