Rockies pinch run ace Kyle Freeland, and he suffers nasty collision

The Colorado Rockies top pitcher Kyle Freeland was hurt while pinch running when colliding into former teammate Jeff Hoffman in the ninth inning of a tie game on Monday.

After catcher Elias Diaz doubled with two outs in the top of the ninth, Bud Black wanted to get more speed on the bases. Diaz, not fleet of foot, was subbed out for a very good athlete in Freeland. After a wild pitch by Hoffman moved him to third, Nolan Jones was intentionally walked.

But before Elehuris Montero’s bat could decide the game with his bat, another wild one got past J.T. Realmuto. Which put Freeland in motion. The play at the plate was deemed to be an out, which stood on the replay review. Had Freeland been safe, the Rockies are likely walking away with a rare road win as Nick Mears shut down the Philadelphia Phillies in the ninth. But Freeland was both out and maybe more importantly to the club’s season, injured.

The play below shows Freeland in a ton of pain with his right shoulder after running into Hoffman.

With a thin bench, the Rockies pinch-ran starting pitcher Kyle Freeland for their catcher as the go-ahead run in the ninth

Freeland got thrown out at home and injured on the play, though he returned to the dugout quickly. The call stood after replay pic.twitter.com/QAmd9KyDUG

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 16, 2024

Freeland is a left-hander so he avoided any pain to his pitching arm. He went straight to the trainer’s room but came out before the end of the review to cuss out the umpire in disagreement with the pivotal call.

Hoffman was a Rockies pitcher from 2016 to 2020, as the big asset back in the Troy Tulowitzki trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. He never worked out as a starter but now is finding success for the NL power Phils. He remains friends with Freeland to this day.

Meanwhile, Freeland was only asked to pinch run because the Rockies bench was short on Monday night. Brendan Rodgers was scratched from the lineup before first pitch because of an illness, Jake Cave is also sick and the team’s highest-paid player Kris Bryant is on the back with an injured back again. Freeland wasn’t going to catch and Jacob Stallings wasn’t going to run, so the backup backstop came into the game for the start of the bottom half.

Anyway, the Rockies ended up losing 2-1 in the tenth inning. If anyone but the left-handed pitcher been able to run, it could’ve been a Rockies win.

Despite how it looked, Black said after the game that Freeland is fine.

Freeland is 0-3 with a 13.21 ERA to start the season, as the Rockies dropped his fourth start on Sunday aginst the Jays. Freeland wasn’t tabbed to pitch again until the coming homestand. Still, even though he’s struggling, a bump to their lone proven big-league starter isn’t a great sign. Both German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela are recovering from Tommy John Surgery so it’s still on Freeland to eat a lot of innings for the now 4-13 Rockies.