DENVER – Rockies second-year right-handed pitcher Chase Dollander is 24, but deep down an old-fashioned guy. He’s a polite enough dude to smile and say he was OK with the new-fangled strategy of using an opener for all but one of his appearances before Friday night.
But for the second time in as many true starts, Dollander pitched like a throwback. Facing a talented lineup from the struggling Phillies, Dollander threw hitless ball for the first three innings and struck out five while yielding two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
But to go full-on old school and pitch deeper in starts, Dollander must trim walks – a season-high five. The game threatened to become an old-school collapse, with the Phillies scoring five runs in the eighth to tie the game against matchup relievers Brennan Bernardino and Jimmy Herget (who yielded Justin Crawford’s game-tying two-run homer). But Troy Johnston delivered an 11th-inning RBI double and Jake McCarthy singled him home to lift the Rockies to their first win at Citizens Bank Park in three years and 18 days, 9-7.
It was a dominant night for Dollander, who took a tick off his four-seam and two-seam fastballs, but had plenty. He increased the use of his two-seam, slider and sweeper as the team continued and was dominant twice through the Phillies’ order. On the third go-round, Kyle Schwarber homered to open the sixth, and J.T. Realmuto added an RBI double to end Dollander’s night.
Just one of Dollander’s walks played a part in a run, and he would have erased that one had Brandon Marsh’s sixth inning grounder been hit hard enough for his defense to turn a double play.
Dollander was barely touched in the first two innings, but showed the beginnings of the ace the Rockies hope he will become when troubles arose. He answered his four-pitch, one-out walk to 9-hole hitter Crawford in the third by needing four pitches total to retire Trea Turner on a fly ball and Schwarber on a grounder. Dollander forced an Adolis García double-play grounder to negate Bryce Harper’s leadoff single in the fourth, and a grounder and two strikeouts to render moot his fifth-inning leadoff walk to Bryson Stott.