Kyle Freeland dominates Pirates, who blow key chance in ninth to lose to Rockies

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jun 19, 2026

Published in Baseball

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DENVER — The Pirates’ woes against lefties continued on Friday, potentially reaching a new low.

Veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland dominated the Pirates for seven innings, then a Pirates comeback was spoiled by yet another blown save in a 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Friday night at Coors Field.

The Pirates trailed 2-0 after seven innings, took the lead with a three-run eighth, then Mason Montgomery allowed two in the eighth for the Pirates’ 16th blown save of the year.

The Pirates loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the ninth against right-hander Antonio Senzatela, but Tyler Callihan struck out and Jared Triolo grounded into a double play to end it.

Freeland was the story for most of Friday. The 33-year-old Denver native, who entered with a majors-worst 7.98 ERA, allowed a Brandon Lowe double in the second and a Triolo single in the third, then retired 16 batters in a row.

No. 14 in that span was a strikeout of Marcell Ozuna for Freeland’s 1,000th career strikeout. The Rockies crowd gave him a standing ovation. Freeland waved, then came back to strike out Lowe for No. 1,001.

But the Pirates finally managed some life in the eighth. Esmerlyn Valdez, starting only because Bryan Reynolds was scratched with left groin tightness, doubled to center. Triolo then lifted a double down the right-field line, scoring Valdez, breaking the shutout and ending Freeland’s night after 81 pitches.

Reynolds followed with a short, yet effective appearance: pinch hitting for Billy Cook, singling on the first pitch Hill threw to tie the game, then leaving for pinch runner Jake Mangum.

After Mangum was caught stealing second, Spencer Horwitz was hit by a pitch and Nick Gonzales scored him with a go-ahead triple.

But Montgomery couldn’t hold the lead. Yohan Ramirez recorded four outs — on six pitches — to make way for Montgomery. Montgomery got a first pitch groundout, but two two-out singles and a pinch-hit double from Braxton Fulford gave the Rockies the lead.

It was over when …

… Triolo grounded into the double play.

All Callihan had to do was put the ball in play, as the Rockies played their infield back, but he struck out. All Triolo had to do was not ground into a double play. Instead, the Pirates came up with zero.

On the mound

Bubba Chandler struck out just one, but had one of his better starts of the season. He threw six solid innings for his second quality start of the year. He threw just 74 pitches.

He allowed an RBI double to Willi Castro in the third, but got the Rockies’ best player, catcher Hunter Goodman, to pop out to strand runners on second and third. After a TJ Rumfield solo homer started the fourth, Chandler got through two more scoreless innings.

Chandler still hit two batters and walked two more, but spent much of the night in control.

At the plate

The Pirates’ struggles against lefties remain concerning. While they’ve been better of late — and they were without Reynolds, Oneil Cruz and Konnor Griffin in the starting lineup — it still remains a season-long trend.

For much of the night, Freeland represented a new low.

Up next

The Pirates and Rockies play Game 2 of a three-game series at 9:10 p.m. Saturday. Paul Skenes (6-6, 2.85 ERA) will pitch for the Pirates, looking to snap a skid of six consecutive losses in Skenes starts, while the Rockies will counter with right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (7-4, 4.54).