Colorado Rockies morning after: Kyle Freeland has a groin injury

The Rockies defeated the Philadelphia Phillies last night by a score of 4-3 but Rockies starter Kyle Freeland could not get out of the first inning as he left with what was later determined to be a groin injury.

The Rockies game, last night, was a see-saw match. The Rockies entered the sixth inning with a 2-0 lead, a lead that they had since the first thanks to a two-RBI single by Carlos Gonzalez after the bases were loaded on walks.

However, in the sixth inning, Antonio Senzatela, who was pitching in relief, gave up a lead off single to Phillies right fielder Aaron Altherr. After first baseman Tommy Joseph popped up to DJ LeMahieu, Phillies left-fielder Nick Williams drove Altherr in with an RBI double. Third baseman Maikel Franco delivered what was generously scored as a RBI triple to drive in Williams (the ball was hit to right-center field and Carlos Gonzalez had the ball go right under his glove and to the wall).

For Senzatela, he gave up three hits and two runs in two innings. Prior to last night when pitching in relief, Senzatela had logged eight innings and he had allowed two hits and one run.

The Phillies took the lead in the seventh inning off Scott Oberg when he gave up a lead-off double by Cesar Hernandez and an RBI single by Altherr. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Nolan Arenado did what he does best as he hit a 433 foot homer to center field.

The Rockies re-gained the lead in the eighth inning on an RBI single by DJ LeMahieu that scored Pat Valaika (who was the Rockies third shortstop of the evening) from second base and they never looked back as closer Greg Holland shut it down for his major league leading 34th save on the season.

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Freeland’s injury

However, in the first inning, the Rockies had to remove their starter, Kyle Freeland, after only facing two batters as he had a groin injury. Rockies manager Bud Black said that the injury was (courtesy of the Denver Post) “a groin strain and a groin pull.”

If Freeland has both a strain and a pull, that would be bad news for the Rockies. A strain usually means a more severe injury and a longer recovery time. Freeland was in the dugout and he was limping fairly badly after the incident.

However, Black added this after the game (again, courtesy of the Denver Post):

Just hours after the trauma, we don’t know exactly how this is going to set up…but [in] the next couple of days we’ll know the extent of this. When he comes in tomorrow or the next day…we’ll test the strength and see how he’s feeling. The imaging after the game showed no structural damage. So we’ll see. But a groin strain, like a calf strain or a hamstring, they are all sort of dicey.

Next: News and Notes: Bettis, Garneau, and Arenado

Final Thoughts

It was a hard-fought win for the Rockies but the Rockies are hoping that this doesn’t turn out to be a bad injury for Freeland. The Rockies will be getting reinforcement soon with Chad Bettis returning soon (as we discussed in this article from yesterday) but if Freeland is out for any extended amount of time, that would be a huge blow to the Rockies.