Rockies Veteran Starter 'Felt Healthy' During His Return From Injured List

This Colorado Rockies veteran starter had a less than ideal return to the mound.

Jun 4, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland (21) delivers a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Silver linings have been very few and far between for the Colorado Rockies in the midst of their historically awful 2025 season, but the return of veteran starter Kyle Freeland from the injured list gave some hope for a spark on the mound.

The career Rockie had gotten off to a less than stellar start to the year, but appeared to be turning a corner on the mound prior to being placed on the shelf with lower back stiffness on June 15.

As such, Colorado was hoping that he would be able to pick things right back up against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.

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Things actually appeared to be trending in this direction early on, with Freeland holding the Brewers' usually stout lineup scoreless over the first three frames of the game.

Whatever positive momentum Freeland had built over those innings quickly unraveled in the fourth, as the lefty quickly lost all command of the strike zone.

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This, in turn, led to Milwaukee exploding for six runs with a three-run blast off the bat of Jackson Chourio ultimately putting an end to Freeland's rough return to the mound.

“I felt good. I felt healthy out there,” Freeland said after the game, per MLB.com's Ryan Herrera. “I felt like I was filling up the zone, doing a good job. Unfortunately, that fourth inning just unraveled on me with some seeing-eye ground balls and some base hits, and then that big home run there at the end by Chourio.”

Having the type of performance Freeland had over the first three frames only for it all to unravel in what seemed like the blink of an eye is a gut punch, but there were still positives for the veteran to take away.

He was working the strike zone masterfully early on, and appeared to be pitching at full strength with no noticeable limitations from his lower back.

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This could mean the meltdown in the fourth had far more to do with Freeland having a bit of ring rust, potentially needing a few more starts to work back up to is usual self.

It will be interesting to see how his next few outings unfold and whether or not he can put it all together to provide some sort of positive for Colorado on the mound.

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