Saturday, June 20

DENVER -- Rockies utility sparkplug Tyler Freeman and his wife, Jacy, welcomed their first child, a girl named Ella, on May 16.

Between the warm event and his first Father’s Day, Freeman had a scare when Brewers fireballing pitcher Jacob Misorowski’s 98.2 mph fastball hit him in the batting helmet. Freeman went to the seven-day concussion injured list a couple of days later.

If anything, it gave Freeman, 27, a chance to display an example of bouncing back for Ella, when she is able to comprehend. For when the time comes, Freeman put together a message for Ella.

“I’m a new dad, and just experiencing all the craziness of being a brand-new dad. My daughter, Ella, just this is for you.

“I'm super-excited just to be a father to you. I'm just so blessed to just get to spend each and every single day with you, whether it be on the phone, or whether it be on FaceTime. I’m thinking about you while I’m at the field and whatever I’m doing in life. I will not take you for granted, and I will keep doing my absolute best to be the best father figure that I possibly can. There's going to be lots of ups and downs, obviously, of growing up, and just remember that I'll always be by your side and I'll never leave your side.

“The days leading up to you being born, it was every second of every day … ‘When is it going to happen? When are you going to come into this world? Seeing you for the first time was special. I can never describe that to anyone who has not had a daughter or a son yet.

“Anything in life you want, you should want to be the best at it -- whether you're a baseball player or whatever you do in life. Do it, do it with open arms, do it full force, do it to the best of your ability and everything will play out for itself if you have a positive attitude and show up every single day. Create a positive environment, spread joy to people around you.

“Getting hit by that pitch was real. It's something you just got to bounce back from. It's something you know. It happens. Rest, reset and go at it again. If life brings you down a little bit, take some time to think about it, get better at it or just heal.

“Then get back it with open arms and full force. Have fun, spread joy.”

With a mostly young bullpen and no established closer, manager Warren Schaeffer seeks the best matchups. The strategy is sometimes successful, sometimes not. Wednesday, a night after a walk-filled meltdown in a 5-4 loss to the Cubs, the bullpen handled the final 4 1/3 frames of a 5-2 victory over the Cubs, with rookie Blas Castaño earning his first career win and Jaden Hill gaining his first save with a spotless ninth.

Hill, 26, on balance, has been on the short list of consistent performers. June has seen an uptick in runs that have inflated his ERA to 4.26 for Hill, but he was barely touched in the first month-plus.

After bouncing between the Majors and Triple-A Albuquerque the last two years, Hill has developed adaptability. That trait is necessary, since Hill’s ability to work against lefty batters (.192 opponent's batting average) puts him in key matchups. Brennan Bernardino is the only true lefty in the Rockies’ ‘pen.

The night he earned his save, Hill warmed up lightly in the fifth inning because of the game situation. He also had pitched the Rockies out of a tight situation the previous night.

“It’s communication throughout, watching the game, seeing how hitters are hitting throughout the series, talking to [bullpen coach Matt] Buschmann throughout the game,” Hill said. “Especially when it’s a big part of the game, you want to be in the game -- it could be the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth … even the first. As a competitor, you want to be out there.”

Righty Victor Vodnik struggled with consistency early, then missed four weeks with right ulnar nerve inflammation. His return was rough -- one run on one hit and two walks in 2/3 of an inning on Tuesday, but a clean inning on eight pitches Wednesday.

• An early-season Instagram look at Victor Vodnik’s possibilities as a closer

Early in the year, Vodnik was as close to a closer as the Rockies had. Now Vodnik is more focused on his method than his role. He recognized that he made the mistake of trying to pinpoint his pitches on Tuesday, instead of letting his near 100 mph velocity be his calling card.

“I made an adjustment and thought about throwing right down the middle and just being confident in my stuff -- getting into my alter-ego mentality,” Vodnik said. “The first night, I was trying to be way too perfect.

“It’s kind of what Aroldis Chapman [of the Red Sox] said during that crazy year he had, the only adjustment he made was just throwing it down the middle and trusting his movement -- let the ball do its thing. Most of the time, it’s not going to end up in the middle. If it does, great, then I know I can spot up where I want.”

Lefty Sean Sullivan (Rockies No. 11 prospect) prospect Sean Sullivan’s first two Major League starts have been abbreviated. He left because of illness after three scoreless innings against the Athletics in Las Vegas last Friday. Wednesday’s start against the Cubs was just four innings because of old-fashioned ineffectiveness -- a walk opened a seven-run second inning, and he was charged with eight runs, nine hits and two walks against two strikeouts.

“He got behind in counts, had to come over the plate with his heater, and the heater got hit,” Schaeffer said. “He threw 40-some pitches that [second] inning, which is really tough to come back from, but he came back and got 1-2-3 in the third and got us through four innings. He did what he had to.”

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