Chatwood a hit at plate, on hill Starter provides Colorado a much-needed spark
san diego » Tyler Chatwood was not looking for kudos walking back to the dugout, his head bowed for air after a 180-foot sprint and feet-first slide into home plate. But he got them. A tender pat on the head from Carlos Gonzalez.
Chatwood on Saturday knocked a fifth-inning double that tipped the Rockies toward a 10-1 blowout of the Padres at cloudy Petco Park, but he pitched a protest. The right-hander’s mastery — he muscled through eight innings with eight strikeouts — was a vindication, for now at least, after his manager called out the starting rotation.
“You’re going to have bumps and grinds in a season,” Chatwood said. “We weren’t stressing about it.”
A dragged-out loss to the fourth-place Padres on Friday night, a fifth loss in seven games that knocked the Rockies out of first place in the National League West, led Colorado skipper Bud Black to pinpoint the one consistent measure in his team’s weeklong stutter.
“The games that we’ve lost,” Black said, “we haven’t had good starting pitching.”
Chatwood’s appearance Saturday was an objection.
In April, the 27-year-old, twotime Tommy John experiment pitched the Rockies’ best game of the year, a shutout at San Francisco against the Giants, a nine-inning gem that showed more intelligence than power. He struck out just four but was never threatened. He also threw seven two-hit frames at Coors Field against the Diamondbacks at Coors Field in early May and seven one-hit innings May 24 in Philadelphia. Combined, they are three of the four best-pitched games by a Rockies starter this year.
But Chatwood has also thrown three of the worst, including two losses to the Padres and a frightful outing against the Dodgers in mid-may. Those losses stung, each against NL West foes.
“He does set the bar,” Colorado catcher Tony Wolters said. “Guys look up to him. He knows how to pitch. His pitches are plus-plus. Now it’s about getting his whole arsenal in control.”
On Saturday, Chatwood cruised through the first four innings, allowing just two baserunners. The first was a walk to Franchy Cordero, who was then caught stealing by Wolters. The second was a double to Chase d’arnaud. But Chatwood struck out Allen Cordoba, San Diego’s leadoff man, on three pitches to kill the inning. Cordoba was helpless. Chatwood threw two sinking fastballs inside, then tricked the hitter with a cutter down and out. That is Chatwood’s go-to sequence, a fastball-and-cutter mix with more movement than simple pitch names can explain.
“I felt in control the whole time,” Chatwood said.
Austin Hedges’ solo homer off Chatwood in the fifth was a slight blip, but harmless. The Rockies already had a 4-0 lead. He then sat down 11 of the next 13 batters he faced through the eighth.
Ian Desmond’s empty-count grand slam in the seventh — he lined a low-and-in fastball from reliever Jose Torres over the center-field wall — pushed the Rockies into a blowout, giving them an 8-1 lead.
It was the third home run this year and the fifth since August for Desmond, the Rockies’ highprofile offseason signing. All of his home runs this season have been hit in San Diego.
“It felt really good to give Chatty some breathing room,” Desmond said.
And second baseman DJ Lemahieu hit three singles, two for RBIS, including the hit that rounded Chatwood home to score from second in the fifth. The Rockies improved to 35-23, still their best record to begin a season in the 25year history of the club. Even in a slide, the Rockies have kept themselves above water.
With Chatwood pitching in form, a turnabout could be afoot, they hope.
“He needed that,” Desmond said of Chatwood’s outing. “We needed that.”
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or @nickgroke