Freeland leaves due to neck tightness as Rockies fall in extra innings

Rockies Report, Game 127:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Starter Kyle Freeland left early due to neck tightness, overshadowing a tight, 10-inning game that saw the Rox fall 6-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday night at Coors Field.

Freeland departed with two outs in the fourth inning, which had been a rough frame for him, as he gave up two homers — a solo shot to Mookie Betts and a two-run blast to Enrique Hernández. Just after he delivered a knuckle curve to Los Angeles catcher Ben Rortvedt, he reached for his lower back and shook his left hand in discomfort. He was quickly evaluated and left without attempting to throw a practice pitch.

“Neck tightness is what I was told. We’ll just leave it at that right now,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said at his post-game press conference.

Mark Manfredi made his major-league debut after Freeland departed, and faced Shohei Ohtani in his first duel. He walked him on five pitches, then allowed a single to Andy Pages before getting Teoscar Hernández to fly out and end the threat. Manfredi was acquired from Milwaukee in the Antonio Senzatela deal Aug. 3.

Manfredi’s work was part of 5 1/3 scoreless innings for the bullpen until Los Angeles got to Jimmy Herget in the 10th inning with a pair of singles and a Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly, resulting in two runs that provided the decisive margin.

Colorado’s comeback to force extra innings was fueled by Adael Amador’s two-RBI double in the fourth inning and Mickey Moniak’s two-run homer in the eighth. It was Moniak’s first homer in over two weeks, since Aug. 4 against Tampa Bay. Moniak snapped out of a cold streak with a 3-for-5 night Tuesday; he had hit .139 since August 5 prior to Wednesday night.

MICKEY! TIE GAME! pic.twitter.com/8ZCTwUSaVx

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 20, 2026

The defeat dropped the Rockies to 50-77. The Rox also finished the season series against Los Angeles with a 3-10 mark — their third such record against the Dodgers in the last four years. Colorado is 11-41 against the Dodgers since 2023.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

The fourth inning immediately before neck tightness struck was rough for Freeland, who also gave up a run in the second inning after allowing three singles — half of the six hits Freeland allowed in 3 2/3 innings of work. He also allowed a walk, leaving with a 4-0 deficit and all runs at his expense earned.

Freeland threw 66 pitches before departing, but emerged with no decision after the Rockies battled back to knot the game in the eighth inning. His ERA rose to 6.37.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Los Angeles reliever Tanner Scott retired the Rockies in order in the bottom of the 10th.

NUMBER TO NOTE: .805 — Connor Norby‘s OPS since joining the Rockies in the Victor Vodnik trade. He had a .638 OPS over 233 plate appearances with the Miami Marlins.

WHAT’S NEXT: An off-day before starting a three-game weekend series against the Cleveland Guardians that will be highlighted by the unveiling of a statue dedicated to Hall of Famer Larry Walker on Sunday morning. Tanner Gordon will start the Friday night series opener for the Rox; Cleveland will send Joey Cantillo to the hill for that evening’s 6:40 p.m. MDT tilt.

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