Schunk hits first big league homer, Freeland goes 6 innings and Rockies beat Marlins 8-2

DENVER (AP) — Kyle Freeland went six innings, Aaron Schunk hit his first major league home run and the Colorado Rockies took advantage of four Marlins errors to beat Miami 8-2 on Wednesday night.

Nolan Jones hit a pair of RBI singles and Drew Romo added two hits and an RBI for Colorado. Ezequiel Tovar added a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth.

Derek Hill homered for Miami, which fell to 6-15 in its last 21 games.

Freeland (4-6) allowed two runs on six hits and he struck out five with a walk in his 200th career appearance. After surrendering a homer to Hill in the second, he fanned Hill in the fourth for his third of the night and 800th of his career, ranking fourth in franchise history.

Freeland also earned his 59th career win, snapping a tie with Jason Jennings for fifth most in club history.

“It’s awesome. Obviously I’ve had a somewhat long career here as a Rockie, and starting to hit some milestones, creeping up some of these leader boards,” said Freeland, a native of Denver. “It’s very nice to know that I’m posted up with some of those guys who I grew up watching and loving to watch. So, it’s really cool for me, as a kid, Kid Kyle, and adult Kyle.”

With the scored tied at 2 going into the bottom of the fifth, Schunk connected on the first pitch he saw from Max Meyer, sending it 429 feet into the left-field bleachers.

“I feel like I’ve always had a good swing, kind of a line-drive double swing,” Schunk said. “But when I get them, I can get them. I was just hunting a good pitch, got one, saw it. Brain and body worked out together, got it done.”

Colorado scored three more in the sixth, with an assist from the third of Miami’s four errors. Jones hit his second RBI single in the inning then came around to score when shortstop Otto Lopez threw wide of catcher Nick Fortes and the ball rolled to the backstop. “A really ugly game defensively,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “We just gave away some outs. When you give away outs at this level, especially in this ballpark, you’re going to get hurt, and the Rockies made us pay for it.”

Meyer (3-4) went five-plus innings and allowed five hits and five runs, three earned. He walked four and struck out six.

The teams traded runs over the first four innings, including an unearned run by Colorado that came around due to a pair of errors. Cristian Pache mishandled Romo’s third-inning single to center, allowing Romo to advance to second. He scored when Meyer’s errant pickoff throw careened into right-center field.

ROSTER MOVES

Marlins: A day after lasting a career-low 1 1/3 innings in Miami’s 9-8 win, RHP Roddery Muñoz was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville. Also optioned to Jacksonville was LHP Jonathan Bermúdez. RHP Xzavion Curry and LHP Austin Kitchen were recalled from Jacksonville to fill the roster vacancies. Baltimore claimed OF Forrest Wall off waivers from Miami.

Marlins RHP Valente Bellozo (2-2, 3.35 ERA) is set to make his eighth career start in Thursday’s series finale. The Rockies counter with Bradley Blaylock (1-0, 3.06 ERA), who earned his first career win in his last outing at the New York Yankees.

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