During the best drinking holiday on the Colorado sports calendar, the last call for alcohol came early at Coors Field.
Not that anybody was complaining, because our gritty little Rockies won. They beat Washington 1-0 Thursday afternoon at the home opener when revelers traditionally gather in LoDo to celebrate the arrival of spring and drink to forget the bad baseball we’re usually stuck with in this dusty old cowtown.
While baseball has long been Denver’s favorite drinking game, this home opener was a celebration of something far more refined and rare: beautiful pitching. This masterpiece was memorable because it was created by Kyle Freeland and Pierce Johnson, two Rockies pitchers born and raised in Colorado.
“The beauty about the day is you can talk about a Colorado starter and a Colorado closer. Isn’t that cool?” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “It was super great for me to see a bookend of Kyle and Pierce on opening day, and what it means to our fans and our team and our state.”
The only downside? Before more than 48,000 fans could raise a proper toast to Freeland and Johnson, they made quick work of Washington, leading the Rockies to victory in a scant two hours and 18 minutes.
To speed up the game for short-attention span America, the big leagues have introduced a pitch clock for the 2023 season, requiring batters to get in the box and hurlers to throw the rock in no more than 20 seconds. If you ask me, it’s a great idea to accelerate the pace of America’s pastime, with one caveat. The party now starts quickly and can end just as fast at Coors Field, the best bar in LoDo.
“If you’re out on Blake Street or Wazee, having one more, you might miss a few innings,” Black said.
The Rockies got the only run they needed when Kris Bryant drove home Ezequiel Tovar with a looping single to left field in the fifth inning. That’s all the offense Colorado required because, as the baseball poets like to say, Freeland scaled the bump, toed the slab and twirled.
Twirling is a wonderful baseball term that dances off the tongue. But I’ve always wondered: What does it actually mean? So I asked Black, lauded as a crafty twirler back in his playing days.
“One of my favorite terms is when a pitcher twirls a gem,” said Black, speculating on the origin of the phrase. “I don’t know if it has to do with a baton. Maybe? A person who twirls a baton; it takes talent. So to twirl a baton and twirl a ball is maybe a good comparison.”
OK, so maybe I don’t know how to define twirling. But I know it when I see it.
And Freeland, making his third career start in a home-opener, was definitely twirling, getting ahead in the count, prohibiting the Nationals to advance anywhere near scoring position, striking out five batters and allowing only four hits before leaving the game with two outs in the seventh inning.
In a sweet moment suitable for framing, he tipped his cap to a cheering crowd on the way to the dugout. “I wanted to let the state of Colorado know I love them,” Freeland said.
And the party only got better. In the ninth inning, with fans on their feet, the 31-year-old Johnson recorded only the second save of his major-league career, mowing down the Nationals as easy as 1-2-3.
“That was so cool, being able to do it in a place where I came and watched games growing up,” Johnson said. “All my friends and family were here … I was trying to be as cool as possible. But the adrenaline was going. That was a big moment.”
After the television cameras departed from his locker in the clubhouse, Johnson told me of a time his heart raced even faster when taking the mound in Colorado.
Way back in 2007, as a sophomore for Faith Christian High School in Arvada, Johnson was the winning pitcher in the state championship game. On his way to the Class 3A state title, however, he surrendered four runs in the first inning before gutting out a 5-4 victory against the powerhouse program from Eaton, home to a talented young infielder that just happened to be the son of the Rockies owner.
As Johnson recalled, “Sterling Monfort was on that team.”
Hope springs eternal when the home team wins the home opener. Drink it all in, because these young Rockies don’t figure to be in the hunt for a playoff berth for a long time.
But that won’t stop us from raising a toast to Freeland and Johnson, in a heartfelt salute to two pitchers raised to never fear throwing a curveball for a strike in the thin air of Colorado.
Drink up quick because there’s only one downside of the new pitch clock. Last call will come earlier at Coors Field.
“I’m going to have one more, for the record,” promised Black, before walking to his office to celebrate the victory with a cold brew.
I asked Black if would save me a cold Lagunitas.
“Now,” Black replied, “you’re talking.”
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