Looking like a keeper
ROCKIES 3, PADRES 1 Hoffman makes his pitch to stay in Rockies’ rotation by beating Padres
san diego» Jeff Hoffman‘s spring ended on the dusty side of a chain-link fence.
The Rockies were playing a Cactus League game 100 yards and one giant leap from him, inside the glittering grounds of Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz. Colorado’s top pitching prospect was consigned to patience.
The tall right-hander with a hammer curveball, the Rockies determined, wasn’t ready for the big leagues. Hoffman disagreed. In his heart, Hoffman is the pitcher who mowed down the San Diego Padres for seven innings Sunday, allowing just three hits in the Rockies’ 3-1, series-clinching victory at Petco Park.
But in late March, he pitched the final game before the regular season against minor-leaguers. Then he waited.
“The best players are really able to critique their performance honestly and get better from it,” Colorado manager Bud Black said Sunday morning in the visiting team’s dugout. Hoffman’s most recent call-up Sunday was his fifth jump from Triple-A to “The Show” in the past nine months.
Hoffman and the Rockies may finally be on the same page. Colorado invested heavily in the 6foot-5 pitcher, trading shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to Toronto for him in 2015. Sunday, Hoffman argued for a permanent place in the Rockies’ evolving rotation.
The Rockies called on the 24year-old to replace struggling lefty Tyler Anderson, who was moved
to the 10-day disabled list with what the club called left knee inflammation. Hoffman will pitch again Saturday in Chicago against the Cubs. After that, Black has a decision to make. Anderson can return as early as June 11.
“I feel like I’m getting better every time out,” Hoffman said Sunday.
Against the Padres, Hoffman’s seven innings were as efficient as they were impressive. He struck out a career-high nine batters and did not walk one.
Hunter Renfroe’s solo home run off the third deck of the brick warehouse in left field during the fifth inning gave the Padres a run, and Franchy Cordero followed with a quick single.
Hoffman, as if Black was looking over his shoulder, chewed into a critical self-evaluation.
“There are some at-bats in that game when I could have done a better job,” Hoffman said. “I can’t fall behind to Renfroe there. That gives him a chance to hit the ball hard somewhere. He’s a good hitter. He hits the ball out of the park.”
After Cordero’s single, Colorado pitching coach Steve Foster jogged to the mound.“What is your best pitch to get a groundball?” Foster asked Hoffman.
“So I went fastball down and away and we ended up punching him out, which works too,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman struck out three of the next four batters he faced. He did not allow a hit until the third inning, when Erick Aybar lined an infield hit off Hoffman’s backside and barely beat out Trevor Story‘s throw from shortstop.
Hoffman threw only 89 pitches. He was pulled only for an attempt at offense, when Pat Valaika pinch hit for him with the bases loaded in the eighth.
“He’s a tough kid,” Story said of Hoffman. “It looked like he can command everything. It shows how good he can be.”
Story’s two-run single up the middle in the fourth inning gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead, and Tony Wolters’ RBI single to right added another run. Jake McGee and Greg Holland combined to pitch perfect eighth and ninth innings for the Rockies in relief.
“He’s pitching with confidence and conviction and belief,” Black said of Hoffman, now is 3-0 this season, with a 2.61 ERA in four appearances. His road ERA over 14 innings in two games is 1.29. He is striking out 11.3 batters per nine innings, the best ratio among the Rockies’ starters.
“It’s really good to see,” Black said.