DENVER -- If Sunday’s game was lefty Kyle Freeland’s 251st and last start in a Rockies uniform, his first career complete game in an 8-1 victory over the Royals at Coors Field served the fitting bookend.
If Freeland isn’t dealt by Monday’s 4 p.m. MT Trade Deadline, the performance could be the happy start of what’s likely a goodbye after 10 seasons in a Rockies uniform, a proud son of the city and attendee of local Thomas Jefferson High School.
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Freeland’s career started on April 7, 2017, with six innings of one-run ball in a win over the Dodgers in the home opener. He braved understandable nerves then. This time he did it in the heat. The 99-degree first-pitch temperature was the second-highest in Rockies history -- behind only a 100-degree day on June 25, 2012.
Freeland’s previous three outings would have been quality starts had he not yielded a homer in the sixth inning each time – which either ended his outing short or pushed his line to four earned runs.
This time, Freeland blew through that standard. In the deepest start of his career, Freeland -- at the end of a five-year, $64.5 million contract -- held the Royals to five hits with eight strikeouts -- one shy of his season high.
It was the Rockies’ first complete game since Chad Kuhl’s on June 27, 2022.
Whether now or later, Freeland -- whose 1,368 2/3 innings pitched also are a club mark -- is expecting the sun to set on his Rockies career.
“There really haven’t been conversations between myself and our coaches or the front office about it,” Freeland said in days leading up to Sunday’s game. “It’s more of an understanding. We’re on the same page. I’m not having the year that I want to have in the final year of my contract.
“I don’t believe I’m going to be part of the organization moving forward and I understand that. I’ve spent the last 10 years here, but it’s an understanding that if a team does call for me, they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do for the future.”
The 2.30 ERA Freeland posted in his first three starts before sustaining left shoulder inflammation and not seeing action for two months seemed long ago before Sunday’s gem.
The consistent crooked numbers that have pushed his ERA up to 6.81 don’t lie. But the fact they haven’t improved lately vexes him. The last couple starts have followed the pattern of first-inning runs, followed by stingy work during innings 2-4, but ending with a home run in the sixth inning to cost himself quality.
“I’ve had a lot of starts this year where it was, ‘Gosh, one thing here and one thing there and we’re sitting pretty,’” Freeland said. “You look at my starts and it’s small things -- if I would have executed better or if we had made this play, it would have been better. If I hadn’t walked this guy, I wouldn’t have let an inning snowball.
“There are also a lot of starts where I got my teeth kicked in by the third inning.”
His first two seasons in the Majors, 2017 and '18, Freeland helped lead the Rockies to their last two postseason trips. The following years weren’t as good.Freeland’s injury and his struggles place him at 99 1/3 innings, so he won’t reach the 170 innings required to guarantee him $17 million for 2027 under a vesting option.
Freeland was one of the veterans that manager Warren Schaeffer pulled into a meeting and requested their leadership as soon as he replaced Bud Black last May. Schaeffer said Freeland upheld his assignment.
“That’s what true leaders do -- true leaders don’t just lead when they’re going through good spells,” Schaeffer said. “This game is full of ups and downs. Kyle has had his share of downs this year, for sure, but his leadership has remained constant.
“He’s had a ton of ups in his career here in Denver. Everybody knows that. And when you walk through the clubhouse, he’s one of the biggest leaders. He hasn’t changed at all this year.”
Having stood for his hometown and Rockies pitching for so long, Freeland acknowledges that it might be time for someplace different.
“We’ll see what the future holds, but the way this season has gone for a guy like me or Michael Lorenzen [a right-hander who lately has pitched well on the road], who's only been here for a year, that we could be change-of-scenery candidates,” Freeland said. “Maybe get some fresh eyes, maybe a new team, whatever that may be. See if there is some value for a couple of months.
“This is my hometown, but whatever happens at the Deadline happens. I’ll focus on Sunday, and then I’ll focus on my next start -- whether that’s with the Rockies or with another team.”