Ezequiel Tovar<\/a> hit a leadoff single in the fifth after an 11-pitch battle.<\/p>\n![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP26091679599792.jpg\")
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) throws during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Toronto, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
After two starts this season, Gausman has a 0.75 ERA and has whiffed 21. Gausman, 35, is the only pitcher since 1900 to strike out 10 or more and walk none in each of his first two starts of a season.\n<\/p>\n
But Freeland nearly matched him: five innings, one run allowed on five hits with\u00a0 6 Ks and one walk.\n<\/p>\n
While the split-finger-throwing Gausman was barely pressed, Freeland was stressed to the max in Toronto\u2019s one-run third inning. He gave up an RBI single to Davis Schneider and then plunked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to load the bases. But Freeland punched out cleanup hitter Kazuma Okamoto and got Alejandro Kirk to line out to second to snuff the rally.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cGausman was good, and Freeland matched him,\u201d Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer told reporters. \u201cFreeland was gutsy, getting through that bases-loaded jam. He kept it right where we needed him to. \u2018Free\u2019 gave us everything he had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeland, who\u2019s beginning his 10th season with the Rockies, had all of his pitches working.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMy fastball didn\u2019t feel great in the \u2018pen, but I found it out on the game mound,\u201d said Freeland, who threw 60 of his 88 pitches for strikes. \u201cEvery pitch in the arsenal was working, especially my sweeper and curveball. They were my bread and butter today, along with my fastball. I was able to get a lot of weak contact and a lot of swing and miss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeland tipped his cap to Freeland.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Free\u2019 is our captain, and we\u2019re behind him every step of the way,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was unbelievable on the mound. Once he gets going, you see all of us get going.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rockies are off on Thursday before hosting the Phillies on Friday afternoon in the home opener at Coors Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cWe have been waiting months for this, to get back home to Denver and the blue sky at Coors Field.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Colorado](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP26091732948357.jpg\")
Colorado Rockies Tyler Freeman (2) reacts after hitting an RBI single against the Toronto Blue Jays during tenth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)
\nPitching probables<\/p>\n
Thursday: Off day<\/p>\n
Friday: Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (0-0, 5.40 ERA) at Rockies RHP Michael Lorenzen (0-0, 6.22), 2:10 p.m.<\/p>\n
Saturday: Phillies LHP Jesus Luzardo (0-1, 9.00) at Rockies LHP LHP Jose Quintana (0-0, 4.15), 6:10 p.m.<\/p>\n
Sunday: Phillies RHP Taijuan Walker (0-1, 11.57) at Rockies RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (0-0, 1.93), 1:10 p.m.<\/p>\n
TV: Rockies.TV<\/p>\n
Radio: KOA 850 AM\/94.1 FM<\/p>\n
Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They held a Colorado pitching showcase in Toronto on Thursday afternoon. The duel featured Rockies veteran left-hander Kyle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[1206,5,1004,167,52,4316,1009,869,131,389,10868,1022,853,4,1027,168,185,8187,775,7903,948,7966,9130],"class_list":{"0":"post-657562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-rockies","8":"tag-aaron-nola","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-brenton-doyle","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-colorado-rockies","13":"tag-coloradorockies","14":"tag-coors-field","15":"tag-ezequiel-tovar","16":"tag-jose-quintana","17":"tag-kevin-gausman","18":"tag-koa","19":"tag-kyle-freeland","20":"tag-latest-headlines","21":"tag-mlb","22":"tag-more-rockies-news","23":"tag-rockies","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-thomas-jefferson-high-school","26":"tag-tomoyuki-sugano","27":"tag-tyler-freeman","28":"tag-tyler-rogers","29":"tag-vladimir-guerrero","30":"tag-warren-schaeffer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116331869061896409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}