Opener or no opener, Dollander dealing like an ace

DENVER – Rockies rotation leader-elect Chase Dollander knew he would not start Tuesday night’s 1-0 loss to the Padres, just as he hasn’t started any of his six appearances this season.

But in the days before the game, he prepped like a starter and carried a confidence that screamed the game was his, regardless of when he took the mound.

“It's not my decision -- I'm just gonna let my performance speak for itself,” Dollander said. “Whenever they want to transition me, they'll transition me, you know. Right now, it’s not up to me.”

The result -- an offense that managed just three hits in the fourth 1-0 home loss in Rockies history (the others were in 2006) -- was not up to Dollander. Neither was the pitching plan.

Still, in the context of modern, pitch-count-informed and tendency-heavy pitching strategy, the Rockies can’t be accused of administering kid gloves.

And Dollander excelled at what was up to him.

The Rockies used righty Jimmy Herget as an opener in the first inning, and they didn’t let Dollander cross the analytically erected barrier against facing the top of a batting order for a third time in a game. But Dollander threw a career-high 102 pitches and struck out nine – six straight at one point – against one run and three hits in six innings.

“It’s maturity,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “We’ve seen a lot of that this year.”

Dollander faced bases loaded in the sixth inning. The Rockies had veteran lefty Brennan Bernardino warm up briefly. But there was no hook when Dollander let a full-count pitch to Manny Machado sail high -- “I’m human,” he said -- to walk in a run, nor after Dollander fanned Xander Bogaerts on a sweeper to end the inning.

Dollander put down the seventh by facing four bottom-of-the-order batters and finishing the night with a lineout from nine-hole hitter Jake Cronenworth on a 98.2 mph four-seam fastball.

“It’s my game,” he said. “It’s my inning. I don’t want the guys to come in and have to get me out of that. I want to get out of that, myself. I have all the faith in the world in those guys to get out of that, but it’s another feeling to get out of that yourself.”

Because of a respiratory bug that’s scourging the nation, Dollander said he had trouble breathing in his first couple of innings. He didn’t feel full control of the sinker and disliked the shape of his changeup, even though it garnered strikeouts.

But he had an effective sweeper and a strong two-seam fastball. Of pitchers who had thrown at least 100 four-seam fastballs, Dollander led the Majors in average velocity at 99.1 mph. He averaged 99.2 mph on Tuesday, with six at least 100 mph.

“I can dominate any lineup,” he said. “It’s a testament to everything I’ve been through and learning the lessons I had last year, and everything I did this offseason.”

Padres manager Craig Stammen said, “Dollander's got some really good stuff, that really hard heater. We just couldn't quite catch up to it tonight.”

It was a game Dollander took upon himself the way a No. 1 pitcher should.

Dollander was buoyed by his last appearance – 5 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts and one hit in a 3-2 victory at Houston. Already having anything but a diametric rookie year (3.46 in 10 road starts, 9.98 in 11 road starts) behind him, Dollander stamped the Houston game with his poise when he escaped the sixth inning scorelessly after facing second and third with no outs.

Backup catcher Brett Sullivan recalled the entire squad having a calm feeling.

“You have all the confidence … people watching the game have more stress than the people in the game,” he said.

Dollander, who is putting last year’s Coors woes behind him with his 1.74 ERA and 15 strikeouts to two walks in 10 1/3 innings through two appearances this year, doesn’t wait for others’ evaluations or study sessions. He reviews his outings, either shortly thereafter or by the next day, and his homework on the other lineup makes him more a collaborator than a student in meetings with catchers and pitching coach Alon Leichman, who signals in pitches to catcher Hunter Goodman.

Dollander has yet to use the PitchCom to veto suggested pitches because he hasn’t gotten used to the design of the new buttons, but his preparation and dugout discussion are such that there is no in-game disagreement.

Planning and ability lead to moments like the inning in Houston, or like Tuesday -- when the tough inning was no problem.

“Heck, yeah, you stick with him,” Schaeffer said.