Rockies undone by strikeouts; Freeland undone by Brewers’ big inning

DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 10:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Six innings into his much-anticipated first night with the big club, Zac Veen decided to take matters into his own hands.

In his third plate appearance, with the Rockies trailing 4-1, Kyle Farmer standing at first base, two outs, and a scuffling lineup in need of a spark, Veen laid down a bunt to the third-base side.

The rookie rocketed toward first base, comfortably beat Abner Uribe’s throw — and then took an extra base when the ball sailed wide and down the right-field line.

For a moment, a languid Tuesday night turned electric. Veen made his own call when he saw Brewers third baseman Vinny Capra playing back — and it was the perfect one.

And then catcher Jacob Stallings struck out on four pitches — his third of four strikeouts in as many plate appearances Tuesday night.

It was that kind of night as the Rockies’ bats injected little energy. Their problems with runners in scoring position returned, as they went 0-for-8. They struck out 14 times, with problems caused in equal measure by Brewers starter Freddy Peralta and the Milwaukee bullpen, which delivered four scoreless innings — including one from Nick Mears, dealt by the Rockies to the Brew Crew at the trade deadline last year.

“We ran up against one of the best starters in the game,” manager Bud Black said.

Center fielder Brenton Doyle’s solo home run in the bottom of the third inning represented the entirety of Colorado’s offense.

So it went for Colorado, which after the 7-1 loss now sits 2-8 for the second-consecutive year, with those two seasons matching the 2005 campaign for the worst 10-game starts in club history.

STARTER’S REPORT: Kyle Freeland’s dominant start to the season crashed to a halt in the third inning, as the Brewers nickeled and dimed him to death for six base hits — five of which were singles — that put four runs on the board, one more run than Freeland yielded in his first two starts combined.

Only a diving stop by Ezequiel Tovar on a Vinny Capra ground ball ended the inning and prevented the damage from being worse.

“They bunched some hits together in the inning when they got the four runs,” Black said.

Freeland settled into a strong groove from there and faced one batter above the minimum in the following three innings. He left two batters into the seventh inning after Brice Turang crushed a 2-2 sweeper 444 feet to right center field, expanding Milwaukee’s lead to 5-1.

“Kyle hung in there,” Black said. “There are games when you give up four or five runs and pitch into the seventh inning and you get a win in this ballpark. … Unfortunately, so far this year, with the exception of one game, our offense has not been there.”

Freeland finished his 100-pitch, 6-and-1/3-inning night allowing eight hits and five runs — all earned — with five strikeouts and no walks. His WHIP remains strong at 1.000; his ERA stands at 3.79.

Freeland reached six innings for the third time in as many starts this season. Last year it took him seven starts to reach his third six-inning appearance — and due to injury, he didn’t reach that threshold until July 5.

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Jimmy Herget relieved Freeland and surrendered home runs to consecutive batters on curveballs in the top of the seventh inning — a 409-foot shot off to Christian Yelich that landed in the Colorado bullpen and a 374-foot blast to William Contreras that cleared the left-field fence.


ROCKIES NUMBER TO NOTE: 112 — Number of strikeouts by Colorado batters so far this season. That is not only their highest number through 10 games in team history — it shatters the previous mark by 18. That standard of 94 strikeouts was set last year.

Per Baseball Reference, Colorado’s tally is tied for the the fourth-highest number of strikeouts in the first 10 games of a season in the modern era of Major League Baseball. The three higher tallies were also in recent years — Baltimore in 2021 (117) and 2018 (116) and San Francisco two years ago (115).

“Hopefully we snap out of it at some point,” Black said.

Of the six teams with at least 112 strikeouts in their first 10 games, five finished with losing records; only the 2020 Braves — who also whiffed 112 times in their opening 10 games — finished above .500, going 35-25 in the pandemic-truncated 2020 season.

Ominously, three of the five teams with at least 112 strikeouts in their first 10 games lost at least 100 games. Two of them — the Orioles of 2018 and 2021 — lost at least 110 games, 110 and 115, respectively.

ROCKIES UNIFORM: Black hat with purple bill, purple jersey, white pants with no pinstripes. This was the Rockies’ first game of 2025 in this uniform.

WHAT’S NEXT: Game Two of the series against the Brew Crew will see Antonio Senzatela make his third start of the season and his first home start of the campaign. Tyler Alexander, who has never before pitched at Coors Field, will start for Milwaukee.