The message to rookie Bradley Blalock ahead of his first start at Coors Field was simple.
Veteran catcher Jacob Stallings and the rest of the Rockies told the 23-year-old righty to keep the ball down, especially on a day like Sunday when temperatures were in the mid-90s.
“We tried to do that all day,” Blalock said after Colorado’s 3-2 win over the Padres. “We pitched to the game plan going in with a lot of those guys and got some easy fly balls and ground balls.”
That formula allowed Blalock to scatter six hits across the first 5 2/3 innings. He walked three, struck out two and allowed only one run. He aced his first test when Manny Machado stepped into the box with a man on first in the opening inning. Blalock got the veteran slugger, who homered later in the game, to strike out on a slider.
“There’s a subtle confidence there, which is great,” Rockies manager Bud Black said after Blalock’s second start for the club. “I like his stuff. It’s a good fastball. It’s a good, hard slider, a good curveball.”
After retiring the Padres in order in the second and working around a leadoff single in the third, Aaron Schunk’s first-career RBI briefly put Blalock in line for the win. That honor went to Angel Chivilli, as David Peralta’ two-out double in the fourth tied the game. The score remained 1-1 when Black called upon Chivilli to get out of the sixth with two men on base.
“Just got to be a little better there to get to the sixth,” Blalock said.
“I knew he (Chivilli) was going to get the next guy out and leave those two guys at first at second.”
Chivilli stuck to the plan that mostly worked for his fellow rookie. He peppered Kyle Higashioka with a series of low sliders and changeups before getting a called strike three on a 97-mile-per-hour fastball to get out of the inning.
“He’s got some velocity,” Black said. “He’s got some fuzz.”
The 22-year-old returned to the mound with the lead. After leading off the bottom of the sixth with a triple, Brenton Doyle scored on Stallings’ single. A productive groundout from Sam Hilliard added an insurance run, and Chivilli kept San Diego off the bases in the sixth before making way for Tyler Kinley, who gave up Colorado’s only other run. A third rookie, Victor Vodnik, recorded his ninth save.
“Three rookie pitchers against a team in contention, a team that’s been playing great the last three weeks on a hot Sunday afternoon, offensive environment, they did a great job,” Black said. “Very proud of them.”
After being traded to the Rockies days before the July 30 trade deadline, Blalock will have more opportunities to figure out the intricacies of pitching at elevation. Until then, a veteran catcher and helpful clubhouse provided a quality blueprint.
“I knew I had a vet behind the plate,” Blalock said. “I just went with his game plan and kind of relied on him, as we kind of talked (about) before the game.”
ROCKIES 3, PADRES 2
What happened: A two-run sixth inning allowed the Rockies to take the three-game series and improve to 46-79 on the season.
On the mound: Bradley Blalock gave up one run on six hits and lasted 5 2/3 innings in the second start of his career. Tyler Kinley gave up San Diego’s only other run in the eighth before Victor Vodnik worked around a walk to record his ninth save of the season.
San Diego starter Joe Musgrove recorded the 1,000th strikeout of his career in the bottom of the fifth inning, while Bryan Hoeing took the loss.
At the plate: Aaron Schunk opened the scoring with the first RBI of his career. Jacob Stallings and Sam Hilliard drove in runs in the bottom of the sixth. Stallings was the game’s only player with multiple hits.
Padres third baseman Manny Machado hit the game’s only home run in the top of the eighth.
Up next: Monday is a day off before the Rockies start a six-game road trip Tuesday in Washington.