PITTSBURGH -- A day that started with the hope that came with Rockies right-hander Chase Dollander on the mound for a chance at a series win turned concerning and cold – and not just because of the 49-degree first-pitch temperature and brisk wind that made it less comfortable.
Dollander, a second-year pitcher around whom the Rockies want to build their future rotation, exited the 7-2 loss to the Pirates with right arm tightness after one rough inning plus two batters of the second. The extent of the injury isn’t known. Dollander said after the game that an MRI had not been scheduled.
Dollander didn’t want to rate his level of concern.
“I don’t know; I’m not sure,” Dollander said. “I don’t want to say too much before anything else happens – not to freak myself out or anyone else.”
Dollander gave up three first-inning runs, including a two-run Ryan O’Hearn homer. Endy Rodríguez led off the Pirates’ second with a double. Dollander then walked Jared Triolo on five pitches, and television cameras caught him wiggling his arm after the final pitch.
Dollander acknowledged that he felt the tightness as he extended his arm on his fastballs and his changeup. The numbers showed that Dollander (3-3, 3.89 ERA) was not himself.
A four-seam fastball that normally averages 98.9 mph averaged 97.6, and a sinker that normally averages 98.3 averaged 97.1. Dollander consulted with manager Warren Schaeffer and head athletic trainer Keith Dugger and threw some test pitches.
Then he grimaced, handed the ball to Schaeffer and headed to the dugout, to be replaced by lefty Brennan Bernardino.
“Just general arm tightness is what we’re going to roll with right now,” Schaeffer said. “I’m sure it had something to do with the way he was throwing the ball early."
The pregame concern was Dollander’s left ankle, which he twisted at the end of the third of his 5 2/3 innings in his last start, a Rockies 11-inning victory at Philadelphia on May 8. Dollander said all along he did not think the ankle would affect his next start. But the arm was a growing concern.
“After the Philly start, it started to bother me,” he said.
The injury was another twist in the story of Dollander, who was called up a week into last season and mostly struggled as a rookie (2-12, 6.52 ERA in 21 starts).
This season, Schaeffer has used alternative planning methods for Dollander’s innings. In his first appearance, at Toronto on March 30, Dollander threw the final four innings of a game started by rotation member Tomoyuki Sugano. Of his next five games, four were started by openers – with Schaeffer wanting Dollander to be on the mound later in games – while the other was one inning on what became a bullpen day when starter Kyle Freeland could not pitch because of a left shoulder injury.
Dollander has worked three of his last four games as a traditional starter.
On Thursday, the bullpen was saved by sleep-deprived righty Tanner Gordon, who held the Pirates to one run in four innings – while pitching on no sleep.
Gordon, an early-season callup, had been pitching in long relief before being optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday, with the plan of extending his pitch count and being seen as a rotation option.
Gordon flew from Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City to Albuquerque, and performed his usual throwing program at Albuquerque’s park on Wednesday. But immediately after throwing, Gordon was summoned back to Pittsburgh. The Rockies on Thursday placed righty reliever Jimmy Herget on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement.
So Gordon packed again and did an Albuquerque-Los Angeles-Atlanta-Pittsburgh trip to arrive early Thursday morning. By afternoon, Gordon was in the game and pitching well.
“My brain’s a little foggy right now,” Gordon said. “I knew I had to try to put the team in a position to win.”