The Rockies won their home opener against the Nationals in a swift-played game.

Key Highlights :

1. The game was moved along due to new rules implemented by MLB.

2. The Rockies won their home opener 1-0 thanks to Kyle Freeland and Jurickson Profar.

3. The Nationals slipped to 1-6 in the game.

4. The new rules implemented by MLB are speeding up the game.

5. The crowd noticed bigger bases, a 20-second time clock between pitches, and no positional shift.

6. The Rockies rookie shortstop and No. 9 hitter Ezequiel Tovar led off the bottom of the fifth with a lazy fly ball to right and the natural human reaction to blindness caused Lane Thomas to bail at the last second.

7. Tovar was credited with a double and scored one out later on a single to left center by Kris Bryant.

8. In the second inning, Profar made a full-out diving catch to his left to steal a hit from Luis Garcia.

9. In the fifth inning, Profar made a running, falling catch but by then Freeland didn't need much help.

10. Freeland got the win and the save in the game.

     In the bottom of the ninth inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, the Freeland High School baseball team was down by one run. Senior pitcher Mason Profar, who had been struggling all game, was on the mound. With the game on the line, he delivered a strikeout to end the inning, preserving the victory.

     "It was just a game," Mason Profar said. "But it felt like so much more. I was just trying to do my job, and it worked out."

     The game took just 2 hours, 18 minutes to play. That's because Freeland's strategy was to take the most efficient route possible. They didn't try to hit home runs or get on base. They just played defense and hit singles.

     "We didn't want to risk anything," Freeland Coach Todd McKeon said. "We knew that if we could just hold them to one run, we'd be in good shape."

     Freeland's strategy worked, and they won the game by one run. Mason Profar was the hero, and he didn't even know it.

     "I just went out there and tried to do my job," Mason Profar said. "And it worked out."

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