Tue, Jun 09, 2026 page6

• Kyle Freeland breaks all-time Rockies record

  • AP, DENVER, Colorado
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  Kyle Freeland on Sunday stepped off the mound and tipped his cap to the cheering fans and then in the direction of his family.

  Just a brief pause to soak in the moment before returning right back to work.

  Freeland, the left-handed pitcher who grew up going to games at Coors Field, became the Colorado Rockies’ all-time leader in innings pitched.

  

  Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland acknowledges the applause of the crowd after he retired Luis Rengifo of the Milwaukee Brewers to become the Rockies pitcher who has logged the most innings in the club’s history, in the fifth inning of their MLB game in Denver, Colorado, on Sunday.

  Photo: AP

  The Denver native got Milwaukee’s Luis Rengifo to fly out in the fifth inning to take over top spot. That first out to center put Freeland at 1,312-2/3 innings for his career and one-third ahead of Aaron Cook, the sinkerball specialist who notched 1,312-1/3 innings for Colorado from 2002 to 2011.

  Freeland received an ovation and made sure to appreciate the moment — just like former Rockies manager Bud Black once instructed.

  “I kind of thought of Buddy, that he’d love for me to tip the cap,” Freeland said after the Brewers finished off a three-game sweep with a 12-4 win. “I know that he would have probably told me: ‘Hey, make sure you tip your cap to the fans out there for their support of you over the years.’ I made sure I found my family to tip my cap to them, too.”

  Freeland grew up watching Cook go to work at Coors Field and trying to solve the hitter-friendly park.

  To be able to break a Rockies record belonging to Cook. It just makes it even more meaningful.

  “Being a Denver kid, it’s kind of crazy,” said Freeland, who went five innings and allowed three runs in a no-decision. “I don’t know if it’s fully soaked in yet. It’s one of those things that I never would have thought that I’d be standing here talking to you guys about, being an all-time innings pitched leader for the Rockies.”

  Freeland was taken with the eighth overall pick by Colorado in the 2014 first-year player draft. The 33-year-old made his major league debut on April 7, 2017, in a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

  He leads the team in games started (242), quality starts (112) and now innings pitched (1,313-1/3). He is also second in strikeouts (989) and fourth in wins (66).

  Freeland in April 2022 signed a five-year extension that runs through this season. He has a player option for 2027 if he logs 170 innings this season.

  “What a long career he’s had,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “To set a franchise record like that, it takes a lot of durability, a lot of resilience, a lot of success.”

  In Phoenix, Arizona, Taiwanese-American outfielder Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno homered, Michael Soroka contained the highest-scoring offense in the majors and the Arizona Diamondbacks avoided a weekend sweep with a 5-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday.

  Carroll hit a solo homer off Cade Cavalli (3-4) in the first and Moreno added a two-run shot in the fifth for a 4-1 lead, which turned out to be plenty for Soroka.

  Soroka (8-3) gave up one run — a C.J. Abrams homer in the second — and three hits in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two while making the fifth quality start in his past seven.

  Moreno and Geraldo Perdomo had two hits apiece for the Diamondbacks, who were outscored 20-2 and had only eight hits in the first two games of the series. They had lost seven of nine.

  Cavalli gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings, with two strikeouts and one walk. He had not given up more than three earned runs in his previous nine starts.

  Carroll hit a homer into the pool area in right-center field on Cavalli’s sixth pitch for a 1-0 lead, Arizona’s first lead in the three-game series.

  Abrams hit a homer down the right-field line leading off the second to tie it at 1-1.

  Tommy Troy walked to open the fifth off Cavalli and scored on Moreno’s two-out, homer into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen down the line in left. Pavin Smith’s sacrifice fly in the seventh made it 5-1.

  Elsewhere, the Tigers tamed the Mariners 5-4, the Braves pipped the Pirates 3-2, the Yankees routed the Red Sox 6-1, the Phillies thrashed the White Sox 9-5, the Angels downed the Dodgers 13-5, the Blue Jays overcame the Orioles 6-4 and the A’s blanked the Astros 5-0.

  The Royals edged the Twins 6-5, the Marlins mastered the Rays 1, the Rangers crushed the Guardians 10-0, the Cardinals defeated the Reds 5-3, the Mets beat the Padres 7-3 and the Giants downed the Cubs 2-1 in 10 innings.

  Additional reporting by staff writer
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