PITTSBURGH — The education of Kyle Freeland continues, and the learning curve is looking steep these days.
The Rockies’ left-hander summed it up himself after a 10-2 loss to the Pirates on Wednesday, in which he gave up five runs and threw 91 pitches before getting the hook with no outs recorded in the fifth inning.
“This was probably the worst start of my first four,” said Freeland, who remained winless as his ERA rose to 5.85.
Freeland’s struggles to get ahead of batters and his penchant for issuing two-out walks continue to hurt him.
“It’s a lesson that he’s learning as we go; that pitch-efficiency factor is important,” manager Bud Black said.