Agnos thrilled -- and dialed in -- during 1st start since high school

PHOENIX -- Right-handed pitcher Zach Agnos brightened the Rockies’ dugout with his voice and his laugh hours before Thursday’s game against the Diamondbacks. That is normal most of the time.

However, Agnos received a text from manager Warren Schaeffer before he climbed aboard the team plane on Wednesday that he would be the starting pitcher -- his first true start since a playoff loss his senior year at Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Va. Agnos had two one-inning starts in Spring Training, but those were merely to match up against better hitters than he may have faced in the later stages of those games.

Usually, a reliever who begins the game as an “opener” matches up against the top of the opponent’s lineup and is out of the game quickly. Agnos, however, was playing the part of a starter.

But after way more hours than he’s used to having to think about the opponent, Agnos decided not to adopt the character of a starter. Usually, those folks are quiet, and folks stay away from them.

“I like having fun with the guys,” Agnos said. “I don’t want them to get out of my way when I’m walking. Give me a little shoulder bump or something. I try to keep who I am.”

Agnos turned out fine being himself while adopting a starter role. He pitched five scoreless innings, struck out four and held the Diamondbacks to one hit and one walk in the Rockies’ 2-1 walk-off loss.

“You always want to come out with a win, but I’m just glad that I could go out there and compete, do what I could to help the team get closer to a win,” Agnos said. “That’s the goal every day I take the mound, and I’m just going to continue to do so -- whether it’s the first inning or the fourth or fifth, whenever my name is called.

“I’m definitely proud of the way I threw and composed myself. I hope nobody could tell, but I was a little kid on the inside on Christmas morning.”

Schaeffer called on Agnos in part to give an extra day’s rest to righty Tomoyuki Sugano, who will start Friday. Sugano beat Arizona at Coors Field on Saturday in his last start for his 150th combined win in the Majors and in Japan, but had to fight off a flu-like illness just to make it to the mound.

The Rockies needed Agnos, 25 and in his second Major League season, to impersonate a starter. The 15-day injured list includes rotation members Ryan Feltner (right ulnar nerve inflammation) and Chase Dollander (right elbow sprain). With the rotation struggling rather than thriving recently, it doesn’t help to have Jimmy Herget (right shoulder impingement) and Victor Vodnik (right ulnar nerve inflammation) also on the IL.

The team has used openers for several games, but needed as many outs from Agnos as his arm could handle.

Agnos’ previous season high for pitches was 67, in three innings against the Padres on April 23. This time, Agnos stretched his 71 pitches (49 strikes) across five frames.

“I can’t praise him enough -- efficient with his pitches, fantastic from ‘Ags,’” Schaeffer said.

Last year, Agnos worked as a setup man and even a closer, but Schaeffer was intrigued by his full pitch mix. On Thursday, he used his cutter for four of his nine swings and misses, but employed a six-pitch mix to keep the Diamondbacks quiet.

“My location [on the cutter] was a little bit better -- was getting it up and in and throwing it for a strike when I wanted to,” he said. “The cutter is the centerpiece to my arsenal and a lot of my stuff plays off it. So establishing that early was definitely a big piece of the outing tonight.”

The ability to adapt and maintain his personality has been successful so far, so why change it? When he signed with East Carolina, he had no idea that it would be this long before he returned to a starting role. For much of his collegiate career, Agnos was a power-hitting shortstop who relieved on occasion. The Rockies drafted him as a pitcher.

“Going into college, I was always told that I was more of a pitcher than a hitter, and when I got to school that flipped quickly -- I turned into a hitter," Agnos said. “Now we’re back here.

“You never know. This game takes you to crazy places and crazy things.”