'Elite' fastball, Brad Pitt's 'F1' POV power Hughes to gem in LA

LOS ANGELES -- One inning into his first Major League start on Wednesday night, Rockies No. 16 prospect Gabriel Hughes had three runs, three hits and two walks against him.

Also in his face and ears was a storied Dodgers lineup and all the actual and created noise at a Dodger Stadium that already was gleeful for receiving the latest Shohei Ohtani bobblehead.

But catcher Brett Sullivan and pitching coach Alon Leichman settled on a plan – lean heavily on a four-seam fastball that Hughes could make do what he wanted.

Sullivan noticed something that told him that Hughes – who came out of Gonzaga University as the 10th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft – was going to be just fine executing the fastball-based agenda.

“You could see in the dugout that he was just vibin’ -- listening to the music and the crowd,” Sullivan said. “That was really impressive. And for him to go out there and, after we score two runs in the second, have five shutdown innings and give us a chance, that’s what you want in a pitcher.”

Hughes finished with six innings and seven strikeouts. He gave up no runs or walks after the first and finished with four hits. Max Muncy’s double with two out in the sixth, which came after Hughes had retired 15 straight, was the fourth and final hit – and the only one he yielded after the first. Homers by Kyle Karros and Edouard Julien jump-started a Rockies offense that tied it in the third but couldn’t find the big hit beyond that in the 4-3 loss.

Hughes, 24, thrived after the strategy crystallized. He threw 39 first-inning pitches but finished with 94, meaning he averaged 11 in innings 2-6.

"I was talking to Alon in the dugout in between innings and he said, ‘Man, this is an elite pitch. You should have so much confidence, because I want you to know I have so much confidence in this pitch for you,’” Hughes recalled. “The idea was to just make them hit it. ‘I’m gonna fill up the zone. I’m gonna put it near the zone. I’m gonna get ahead.

"[In the first inning], I didn’t feel like I was missing by that much. The ones that I had been just missing, I was able to get into the zone. I was able to have clipped the zone.”

Hughes debuted last Friday in a blowout victory over the Giants, and pitched three scoreless innings for a save. But the Rockies drafted Hughes 10th overall in 2022 -- and called him up from Triple-A Albuquerque last week -- to be a starter.

He became the first Rockies pitcher to have a quality start in his first MLB start since righty Peter Lambert, who went seven and fanned nine in a 3-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field in 2019.

Dodger Stadium can be a difficult place to make a first start. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hughes became the first pitcher to put together a quality start on the L.A. mound in his initial MLB start since the Giants’ Trevor McDonald on Sept. 21, 2025. The last before that was the Marlins’ Anthony DeSclafani on May 14, 2014.

Not only did Hughes look impressive in his first start, but he rode a pitch that many who scouted him worried was gone.

Hughes underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023. He threw in the upper 90s at Gonzaga but now tops out in the 93 mph range. He increased his pitch mix and even added a sweeper this year at Albuquerque. On Wednesday, he threw the whole mix in the first inning.

The fastball he has now proved good enough against the two-time defending World Series champions.

“It’s a unique pitch,” Sullivan said. “It does stuff different. It has a little cut on it. It’s fun.

“All credit to him, because he located it amazing," Sullivan added. "We were throwing it in, we were throwing it up. The biggest thing was he got ahead.”

Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said, “You never know how someone’s going to react to their first start, first time in Dodger Stadium, first time against a really good lineup. First inning, he didn’t do exactly what he wanted, then he completely flipped the script.”

Hughes said in the pregame bullpen he was bouncing his breaking ball, so he had to adjust from the altitude of Denver (and Albuquerque) to the air pressure at Chavez Ravine.

But all that comes with facing the Dodgers at their place?

“I think I’ve been nervous most of today and for the first couple of innings,” Hughes said. “But as Brad Pitt said in ‘F1’ … 'It’s just noise, man.'

“The second I step on the mound, it’s the same, no matter where I am.”