Rockies Ace Explains Shutting Down Astros Explosive Offense To Clinch Series

When Paul DePodesta was hired as the new president of baseball operations for the Colorado Rockies in November, he knew he had a major rebuilding project in front of him. Coming off three consecutive 100-loss seasons, he also knew that he didn't need to rush into any decisions.

If DePodesta decided to dump players, one player who would have drawn some interest in the trade market is veteran left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland. Instead, DePodesta held onto him and, along with manager Warren Schaeffer, chose to build the starting rotation around him. So far, so good in 2026.

Freeland is just three starts into the season and he had his best performance against one of the top teams in the American League, the Houston Astros. After the game, he explained why he was able to be effective against one of the top offensive teams early in the season, the Astros.

Kyle Freeland Dazzles To Shutdown Astros Powerful Lineup

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland — Kyle Freeland | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Through Freeland's first three starts of the season, Colorado is 2-1 with wins over the Toronto Blue Jays and Astros. He has been good, but Tuesday night, he took his performance to another level in a 5-1 win over Houston.

Freeland allowed just a third-inning solo home run from Christian Walker. The 32-year-old ended up working 6.1 innings, three hits and one run with five strikeouts and just one walk.

“I was able to get deeper in the game,” Freeland said. “I got into a groove really early, and we were able to have quick innings, keep my pitch count down, and be able to get deeper into the game. To pitch in the seventh inning for my third start after having an abbreviated Spring Training felt really good.”

Despite the abbreviated spring training, Freeland has been very good to begin the season. In his three starts against the Miami Marlins, Blue Jays and Astros, he has an ERA of 2.30 in 15.2 innings and 15 strikeouts with a 1.09 WHIP. He needed just 81 pitches to work his way into the seventh inning against Houston.

Through 11 games, the Rockies are 5-6. Are they a playoff team? No, but they are a team that is showing signs early through the season that things are slowly heading in the right direction.

Michael Lorenzen gets the ball on Wednesday against Houston and if he can turn his early-season struggles around, Colorado has something cooking through the first two weeks of the season.

After the way the last couple of seasons have gone, the Rockies are finally showing that things are trending in the right direction. There is still a way to go, but nobody can complain about the first 11 games.

If a couple of plays had gone another way, they could be over .500 11 games into the season. Not many saw this coming.