The Gray Wolf had a howling good time deep in the heart of Texas. Kyle Freeland, not so much. And so the anticipated matchup between the former Rockies teammates was a flop.
Rangers right-hander Jon Gray, known as the “Gray Wolf” during his time with Colorado from 2015-21, dominated the Rockies for five innings Saturday afternoon at Globe Life Field in the Rangers’ 11-5 win.
Freeland departed after just two innings, having given up eight runs (five earned) on nine hits. The lefty’s line resembled his other poor performance this season against the Pirates on April 17 at Coors Field when he was battered for nine runs (seven earned) on eight hits over 2 2/3 innings.
Gray, who signed a four-year, $56 million free-agent contract prior to the 2022 season, is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his career. Over this last three starts, he’s 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA. Gray blanked the Rockies for the first 3 1/3 innings, extending his scoreless streak to 17 1/3 innings.
In the first inning, the Rockies seemed poised to tee off on him. Charlie Blackmon led off with a double, the 297th of his career, tying him with Larry Walker for the second-most in franchise history. Jurickson Profar followed up with a single and Kris Bryant walked to load the bases. Gray got Elias Diaz to fly out to shallow right, struck out Ryan McMahon and saw Randal Grichuk line out to left.
Given a reprieve, Gray found his stride, giving up just three hits over his next four innings and finishing with six strikeouts. Colorado eeked out its only run off Gray in the fourth, combining singles by McMahon, Mike Moustakas and Harold Castro.
Freeland entered the game on a roll of his own, posting a 2.70 ERA over his past five starts. But the Rangers hit him hard, early and often, scoring four runs in the first and four more in the second.
Marcus Semien led off with a double and scored on Nathaniel Lowe’s infield single. Freeland failed to cover first base and that opened the gates. And from that point on, every ball the Rangers hit off Freeland seemed to find a hole. Freeland saw his ERA rise from 3.16 to 3.88.
Colorado scored three runs in the eighth against the Rangers’ shaky bullpen, getting a sacrifice fly by Grichuk, an RBI single by Moustakas and a run-scoring double by Castro. Speedy rookie Brenton Doyle beat out an infield single to drive in another run in the ninth.
Colorado came to Texas on a nice run, having won 11 of its last 16 games. But the Rangers, who entered the game scoring a big league-best 6.2 runs per game, hammered the Rockies in the first two games of the series, outscoring them 18-7.
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