After being a hard-luck loser in his first career start against Arizona, rookie Chase Dollander of the Colorado Rockies has a chance to get even with the Diamondbacks on Saturday night in Denver.
Dollander (2-9, 6.35 ERA) will take the mound for Colorado in the third contest of a four-game series versus fellow right-hander Ryne Nelson (6-3, 3.46).
The Diamondbacks recorded an 8-2 win in the series opener on Thursday night before the Rockies bounced back with a 4-3 decision on Friday.
Dollander allowed just one run on three hits over 4 2/3 innings in Phoenix on May 18, a game Arizona won 1-0. He didn’t make it out of the fifth inning because he threw a career-high 98 pitches to get 14 outs.
Saturday night will be his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque on Monday. He tossed five solid innings of one-run ball in St. Louis that night in an outing that was the culmination of hard work following his demotion.
Dollander was sent down after two tough starts in early July. He allowed six runs in 2 2/3 innings in a 6-5 loss to Houston on July 1 and five days later walked four batters and gave up three runs in 3 2/3 innings versus the Chicago White Sox. He took a no-decision in that 6-4 Colorado victory.
“Obviously, you never want to get sent down,” Dollander told The Denver Gazette. “I needed to work on efficiency. I needed to work on getting my stuff in the zone as much as possible.
“I allowed myself to be angry or frustrated or whatever, but at the end of the day, it’s really my own fault. It’s one of those things you never want to happen, but it did. You just have to get to work and use it as fuel.”
He will face a Diamondbacks offense that has been rolling this month. Arizona had plated at least one run in the first three innings of 12 straight games before Tanner Gordon held them scoreless until the fourth inning on Friday night.
After a six-game losing streak through Aug. 1 the Diamondbacks have scored 77 runs while winning nine of their last 13 games. The offensive outburst has been fueled by early runs.
“It’s part of our recipe, it’s part of our culture,” manager Torey Lovullo said about how Arizona has jumped ahead so often. “Patience through the entire at-bat, put pressure on the pitcher to throw the ball over the plate and if you don’t get your pitch, check off on it.
“… So a real credit to what we do here from an offensive standpoint — that’s by our hitting coaches, and they do a great job of sending their message.”
The bullpen has been strong, too and the starting pitching solid despite Brandon Pfaadt allowing four runs in six innings on Friday night.
Nelson will try to keep the Rockies in check in his third career start against them. In his first two outings he is 1-1 with an 11.00 ERA.
–Field Level Media
