Rockies' Freeland makes scoreless debut

A little over a month after he was drafted eighth overall by the team he grew up cheering for, Kyle Freeland made his first start as a member of the Colorado Rockies organization.

"It felt great. It was a long time coming, but it was great to finally get out there and get a couple innings in," the 21-year-old southpaw said. "It's great, it really is, to get that first start under the belt."

Freeland allowed three hits while striking out two over two shutout innings in his pro debut. He required just 17 pitches to get through those frames, and his work set the tone in Rookie-level Grand Junction's 12-2 win over visiting Missoula on Wednesday.

New though he was to pro ball, the Denver native did pitch in front of a few familiar faces.

"I had a lot of support out there," Freeland said. "I had family and friends there, and my girlfriend was there as well." 

Knowing that he was on a limit of 30 pitches or two innings kept Freeland's nerves down. In fact, he struck out the very first batter he faced, 11th-ranked D-backs prospect Sergio Alcantara.

"I had a little butterflies, but for the most part, I was really relaxed," said the University of Evansville product. "I knew I was just going to be out there for a short period of time, so I just let loose and had fun."

Freeland then gave up a single to Fernery Ozuna, but induced a double play off the bat of Justin Williams to get out of the inning.

"Whenever you get into a situation like that, with a runner on, you're thinking double play," he said. "It was great to get the guy to ground out and have them turn it."

In the second, he gave up back-to-back singles to Kevin Cron and Trevor Mitsui before whiffing Dane McFarland for the first out and getting a less-expected double play.

The Rockies worked an 8-5-4 twin killing as Missoula's Tyler Clark lofted a fly ball to Grand Junction center fielder Omar Carrizales, who fired to third baseman Luis Castro. The ball bounced away from Castro, but he quickly recovered it and threw to second baseman Forrest Wall to catch Mitsui trying to advance.

"It was a good heads-up play by our third baseman to grab it and throw down to second," Freeland said.

Of the three at-bats in which he surrendered a hit, Freeland would only approach Cron's differently, given the opportunity.

"With one of the pitches, I didn't hit the spot I should have," he said. "It should have been down in the zone, but it was up a little. He was able to piece it up and put it through the middle. I kind of messed up on that one."

James Lomangino, who replaced Freeman in the third, tossed three perfect frames to improve to 1-0 with his fourth Pioneer League appearance.

Castro went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs.