Thursday’s recap

Rockies 4, Athletics 2

At Hohokam Stadium

Chad Bettis was not thrilled with his Thursday afternoon outing.

“I think I could have been a lot better, honestly,” he said after pitching 5M innings and giving up two runs on four hits. “I feel my command was just OK today, where as the last couple starts I thought it was really good. So that kind of regressed in this outing here, but I know I will be able to get back to producing pretty fast. I’m not too worried about it. My off-speed command was pretty good.”

Manager Bud Black, however, thought the righthander did just fine.

“I thought he threw the ball, overall, very well,” Black said. “I liked the changeup and the breaking ball. I want to give him a little more credit than he gave himself on the fastball.”

Bettis threw 90 pitches in the game and an additional 15 in the bullpen, building up his pitch count to a regular season-ready 105. On the mound

Four relievers held the A’s scoreless, and right-hander Adam Ottavino was especially sharp, whiffing two with a crisp slider. At the plate

Catcher Chris Iannetta’s solid spring continued with a 2-for3 day that included his fourth homer. … Charlie Blackmon led off the game with a homer to deep right, his third. … Trevor Story, who has shown such good plate discipline this spring, struck out three times. He was badly fooled on some breaking balls. Worth noting

Black said in the morning media session that the Rockies are determined to steal more bases this season. In the second inning, Story reached on an error and stole second against former Rockies catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Up next

Reds vs. Rockies, 2:10 p.m. MDT at Salt River Fields. Reds RHP Homer Bailey vs. Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland.