Rockies finish with 15-game improvement — but second-worst record in club history

Rockies Report, Game 162:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: A four-run White Sox third inning powered by two home runs — one by former Rockies outfielder Brenton Doyle, who was dealt at the trade deadline early last month — was enough to sink Kyle Freeland and the Rockies in the season finale for what would end up being a 4-2 loss at Rate Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the third on a Connor Norby sacrifice fly that scored Jordan Beck, but the advantage wouldn’t last long, as the Sox exploded at the expense of Freeland in what could have been the final Colorado start for the club’s leader in innings pitched.

Rookie Cole Carrigg eventually drew the Rox back within two on a solo eighth-inning home run, his 12th blast of the year, but he would be the Rockies’ last baserunner of the season.

Colorado concluded the campaign with a 58-104 mark — a 15-game improvement from last year, but still the second-worst season in club history. The Rockies went 13-37 after the trade deadline, which translates to a 42-win pace over 162 games.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Freeland’s worst season since the 2019 campaign in which he notched a 6.73 earned-run average and a minus-1.1 WAR (per Baseball Reference) concluded with the afore-mentioned big inning getting the better of him.

Manager Warren Schaeffer relieved Freeland after four innings and 62 pitches, with seven hits, a hit batter and no walks to his name. Five of the hits and the plunking came in the fateful third inning. His record dropped to 4-12 with the loss; he went 9-29 over the last two seasons.

Relivers Mark Manfredi, Nick Frasso and Jaden Hill delivered four innings of scoreless work after Freeland’s afternoon concluded.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: They went down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning on 14 pitches, with two strikeouts.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 6.28 — The collective earned-run average posted by Rockies starters this season. Amazingly, this represents an improvement over last year’s modern-era worst 6.65.

WHAT’S NEXT: Who knows? WIth the threat of a work stoppage looming over Major League Baseball, no one can accurately predict when the 2027 season will begin. But if the MLB and the players association come to a deal in the next four-and-a-half months, pitchers and catchers are expected to report Feb. 9 and 10 of next year, with the spring-training opener tentatively scheduled for Feb. 19.

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