HOUSTON -- After grinding through a 26-pitch first inning, Rockies rookie right-hander Chase Dollander adjusted quickly. He did just that, throwing five more solid innings on Wednesday night at Daikin Park.
Dollander continued his string of strong starts on the road, surrendering one run over six innings in a 4-0 loss to Houston.
“I thought he pitched really well tonight,” Colorado interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “Whatever the adjustment was, it was good. All of his pitches were for strikes tonight. He was efficient. He got through the sixth inning. … Really good stepping stone for him moving forward.”
Dollander’s lone run scored in the first inning.
“If you look back, my first innings are usually my worst ones, but after that first inning, it was like ‘All right, we need to get some quick outs. I want to get deep in this game. I want to save the bullpen,'" Dollander said. “So, that’s kind of what we did. We were able to get some quick outs, some quick strikeouts, too, which was huge.”
In all, Dollander allowed three hits with a season-high-tying seven strikeouts and a season-high-tying four walks.
“I felt really good,” Dollander said. “Going into it felt great. Pregame bullpen was really good. It was just a combination of things that I was doing pre-start, leading up to the start that got me locked in.”
Dollander relied mostly on four pitches, throwing 43 four-seam fastballs, 20 cutters, 17 curveballs and 16 sinkers out of his 98 pitches. His fastball averaged 98.6 mph and topped out at 99.7 mph.
“It’s hard to hit 98, 99 [mph], especially when it moves like Chase Dollander’s,” Schaeffer said. “Chase has good stuff, and you saw tonight when it’s in the zone, how he can pitch. Really good night for him.”
Dollander said he has been working on his posture when he throws the fastball.
“I was getting too hunched over, causing me to kind of fly out and stuff like that, so kind of having the thought of being a little more linear to the plate,” Dollander said. “It’s obviously still a work in progress, but I’m happy that we’re getting closer to where we need to be.”
The right-hander had his most success with the fastball, getting seven whiffs on 19 swings. He had 15 whiffs total on 48 swings. Houston had four hard-hit balls -- anything with an exit velocity over 95 mph -- against Dollander.
Dollander said he “was really happy with the shapes” of his pitches on Wednesday.
“There were a couple curveballs that were a little more sweepy than an actual curveball, but I was able to reel it back in and get to it,” Dollander said. “I think the posture change with the fastball has helped everything, so it’s really encouraging, and I’m looking forward to continuing that.”
The rookie faced a fair amount of traffic as the Astros had a baserunner every inning except the third, but two double plays aided Dollander.
“Just knowing, having the confidence in yourself that ‘Hey, your stuff is really, really good,’” Dollander said. “Attack the zone, get after them and my defense behind me will take care of it.”
The task of facing the Astros was tougher with Framber Valdez on the mound. Valdez threw seven scoreless, but Dollander was up for the challenge.
“It goes back to the confidence piece in yourself, knowing that I’ve put in the work,” Dollander said. “I’ve grinded more than anybody to be where I’m at and have that confidence in myself. I love pitching against really good pitchers. It’s what you live for at this stage. It’s awesome.”
With a month left in the season, Dollander continues to excel on the road, throwing all four of his quality starts away from Coors Field and allowing three earned runs or fewer in each of his last seven road outings. He also lowered his road ERA to 3.64, compared to a home ERA of 9.88.
Dollander is confident that he will resolve his home struggles.
“I’m going to throw half my starts in Denver,” Dollander said. “I just got to figure it out, and I’m on the way to figuring it out. I’m excited to get back there and show what I got in Denver.”