Photo via @Rockies/X

Eli Whitney | April 8, 2026

Three in a row. For a franchise that didn’t win its fifth game of the entire 2025 season until April 30th, that number carries weight. The Colorado Rockies beat the Houston Astros 5-1 on Tuesday night behind a masterful Kyle Freeland, a towering Willi Castro home run, and a shutdown performance from Antonio Senzatela that earned the veteran his first career save. Colorado clinched their second series win of the young season – and first against Houston in a series of at least three games since 2012, back when the Astros were still a National League club.

Freeland was the story from the first pitch. The left-hander worked with the quiet efficiency that has defined his best starts over almost a decade in purple, generating ten ground ball outs across 6.1 innings while allowing just one run – a Christian Walker solo home run to right in the second – and striking out five. His changeup, a pitch that has been a work in progress throughout his career, was particularly sharp. “Working with Alon [Leichman] and our pitching coaches this offseason and in camp, we got something that we really like with the grip,” Freeland said afterward, “and tonight it really showed the work that we put in on it.” Schaeffer noticed it too. “The changeup was really good tonight,” the manager said. “The curveball was good. Everything was down. Those ground balls are curveballs and changeups and sinkers down. Really good job getting into the seventh inning.” 

The night carried extra meaning for Freeland beyond the win column. Nine years ago to the day, he made his major league debut – at this same ballpark, for the same organization. “I was talking to my wife about it last night,” he said. “Made my first ever start in the big leagues here at Coors Field. It’s an honor to be here 10 years in with the same organization.” Few players in the modern era have made it that long with one club. Fewer have done it at Coors Field, where altitude has chewed up and spit out generations of pitchers who couldn’t figure it out. Freeland has. 

The Rockies offense did its work in two decisive swings. The first came in the second inning, when Willi Castro singled in Troy Johnston – who had reached on an infield single – to tie the game at one. The second, and more significant, came two innings later. With two outs in the fourth and TJ Rumfield on first, Castro turned on a slider from Mike Burrows and drove it 436 feet to right-center for a two-run home run – his first as a Rockie, snapping a 32-game homerless streak. The lead was 3-1, and Freeland would make it hold. “Willi’s going to be right in the middle of everything we do,” Schaeffer said. “His at-bats have been progressively getting better as the season goes on.” 

The insurance came in the seventh, and it came courtesy of Mickey Moniak, who has been nearly impossible to get out since returning from the IL. With Kyle Karros aboard after a walk, Moniak smoked a Kai-Wei Teng changeup and sent it 426 feet to right-center – his third home run in five games since being activated. Schaeffer acknowledged his importance. “He’s an impact bat,” the manager said. “Having him in there against right-handed pitching is big for us.” Moniak himself deflected the power hitter label. “I’ll never call myself that,” he said. “But my dad always says I was a power hitter from when I was 12. Mother nature just caught up to me.” 

When Freeland ran into minor trouble in the seventh – allowing a single to Cam Smith – Schaeffer turned to Antonio Senzatela, who retired the final eight batters he faced, striking out three, to preserve the win and earn the first save of his 181-career-appearance major league life. For a pitcher who spent much of 2025 grinding through a 6.65 ERA as a starter, the transition to the bullpen has unlocked something. “I feel really good,” Senzatela said. “I’m just trying to throw the ball in the strike zone and make my pitches work.”  Schaeffer was more effusive in his praise. “That’s his first career save, which is awesome for what he went through last year,” he said. “Having the guts to be able to change this late in his career – not everybody can do that.”

That Freeland and Senzatela – the two longest tenured Rockies, homegrown and weathered and still very much here – shared this moment wasn’t lost on either of them.”We’ve come this far,” Freeland said, “and now he’s getting saves. It’s really cool” Colorado improves to 5-6. Three straight wins. A winning streak for the first time in 2026. Moniak, perhaps, put it best. “We’ve got a long way to go,” he said “But we definitely like the way we’re playing.