DENVER – Leaving a star-studded career in Japan behind for the Major Leagues, last year for Baltimore, this year for hitter-friendly Colorado, can be described as a challenge.
But Tomoyuki Sugano also sees it as a good time.
What’s not fun about how Sugano has pitched for the Rockies? He limited the Padres to one run and struck out four in 5 2/3 innings of an 8-3 victory on Wednesday night at Coors Field.
“It’s a new team, it’s a new environment, new coaching staff, good teammates,” Sugano said in Japanese through interpreter Yuto Sakuari. “Overall, it’s a good environment so far.”
A challenge for the Rockies in building a staff is that star pitchers often pass on signing with the Rockies. With an accomplished career with Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants, which included three league most valuable player awards and two pitcher of the year honors, Sugano, 36, certainly qualifies in the stardom category.
The Rockies saw Sugano, who had a 10-10 record with a 4.64 ERA in 30 starts last season with the Orioles, as more than a pitcher with an impressive stat sheet in another land. The club’s new front office and coaching staff believe he is the right kind of pitcher to point the Rockies’ pitching in the right direction.
Sugano controlled Wednesday’s game from the mound.
“The pregame meeting went really well, and the game progressed accordingly,” Sugano said.
Sugano yielded fewer than three runs for the fourth time in his five starts, and pitched into the sixth inning for the third time. He walked just one – Ramón Laureano at the end of a nine-pitch plate appearance to open the game – and has not walked more than two in any start.
“His pitch mix, his command, his presence, his poise, his experience – all that combined makes him really good,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said.
This year, the Rockies have encouraged their pitchers to expand their pitch mixes to be less predictable, or they signed hurlers who bring expansive repertoires. Sugano, who has shown a penchant for figuring out which pitches are working in a given start, mixed six pitches on Wednesday. The sweeper and slider had the best action, and they set up a split-finger pitch that garnered five of his seven swing-and-misses.
“This is exactly why we targeted him this offseason and why we wanted him to be part of this team,” said Rockies first-year pitching coach Alon Leichman, who speaks English, Hebrew and Spanish and has begun learning some Japanese to make conversations smoother with Sugano. “Because he does bring in veteran leadership. He does have a good pitch mix and he follows a game plan.”
Down 1-0, the Rockies backed Sugano with a four-run, six-hit second inning – a welcome output after the team endured just the fourth home 1-0 loss in its history on Tuesday night. Sugano’s solid pitching prevented any comeback drama.
"The splitter is a tough pitch, and then he mixed in the slider, and his fastball had good velocity,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “Tonight, we were taking good at-bats, but we couldn't finish him. He finished us off really well tonight.”
The Rockies are enjoying Sugano as much as he enjoys them.
“I had a lot of fun tonight – I felt he was on attack mode,” said catcher Hunter Goodman, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and his sixth homer of the year, an eighth-inning solo drive.
“He has a very good presence, just carries confidence,” Goodman added. “He does that on the mound, even when things aren’t going right. He’s a good guy to play behind.”