Sep 2, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland (21) reacts back to the San Francisco Giants bench after being ejected in the first inning at Coors Field Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Rockies Ace Kyle Freeland Discusses 'Disrespectful' First Inning Against Giants

Originally posted on Colorado Rockies on SI
By Maria Aldrich | Last updated Sep 3, 2025 2:00 PM ET

The Colorado Rockies had an eventful game on Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants.

Although they dropped the game 7-4, this was a heated matchup between the two teams. This defeat came just one day after their brutal 8-2 loss against the Giants on Monday, but it's safe to say that the first of the three-game set was underwhelming compared to what happened in last night's matchup.

Tensions appeared to be quite high from the start of the contest. Rockies ace Kyle Freeland took to the mound in the top of the first inning, Giants slugger Rafael Devers stepped up to the plate and everything spiraled out of control from there.

Kyle Freeland Weighs In on Bench-Clearing Altercation

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Devers smacked a two-run homer and Freeland felt Devers took his time admiring his hit. As the slugger started to run the bases, Freeland began chirping at him, which resulted in the benches clearing and some pushing and shoving ensuing.

"I found it extremely disrespectful to show me up like that in the first inning — after hitting the home run, standing there watching it, taking your sweet time getting down to first base," said Freeland, per Thomas Harding and Maria Guardado of MLB.com. "I've been in this league for quite some time. I know he has as well. I just find that extremely disrespectful and felt that I needed to let him know about that."

Freeland certainly let Devers "know about that," and it resulted in three ejections taking place with Freeland being one of them. Devers was not tossed, but his teammates Matt Chapman and Willy Adames were after they inserted themselves right into the skirmish.

"... being disrespected like that, I felt there was a need to say something and let him know, 'You disrespected me. You showed me up and I don't respect you doing that, coming into my ballpark and doing that,'" Freeland added.

However, San Francisco pitcher Logan Webb had a different take on the situation, explaining that he's "surprised it hasn't happened before." Webb described Freeland as a guy who "just kind of runs his mouth," leading to more controversy among Colorado fans coming out of this incident.

The Rockies still have to face the Giants for one more game on Wednesday to wrap up the set — time will tell if tensions have eased or if they've only grown from here.