The Colorado Rockies opened a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, and the matchup at Citizens Bank Park was set to continue Saturday night with Kyle Freeland facing Aaron Nola. The teams were scheduled to play at 6:10 p.m. EDT as Colorado tried to carry the lift from a wild win over the New York Mets into the second stop of a six-game road trip.
The Rockies beat the Mets 9-7 on Thursday afternoon, getting a Jake McCarthy grand slam in the eighth inning and then surviving into the 11th, where Troy Johnston delivered an RBI double and McCarthy added an RBI single. That comeback mattered because Colorado had dropped five of six games during its homestand before leaving town, and the trip through Pennsylvania now puts the Rockies in position to build on one of their most complete offensive performances of the season.
Freeland, 1-3 with a 5.04 ERA, was scheduled to start after a rough outing against the Atlanta Braves on May 3, when he allowed six runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings. He walked three batters, struck out seven and needed 98 pitches to get 13 outs, a workload that underscored how quickly his start unraveled. For Colorado, the question is whether he can reset against a Philadelphia lineup that has already seen enough of the early season to know where teams are vulnerable.
Nola, 2-3 with a 5.06 ERA, entered with a very different recent snapshot. He posted a 6.15 ERA over 26.1 innings in April and allowed 18 earned runs during the month, but he followed that with six innings of five-hit, no-run work against the Miami Marlins on May 4. That contrast gives Philadelphia a chance to lean on a starter who may be finding something after a difficult stretch, even if his season numbers still leave little margin for error.
The series is part of a road swing that keeps the Rockies in Pennsylvania for three more games next week against the Pittsburgh Pirates, making these next few days a useful test of whether Thursday’s rally was a spark or just a one-night correction. Colorado has already shown it can score late. What it has not yet shown is whether that kind of fight can carry through the rest of a trip that could shape the next week of its season.
