Rockies’ Chase Dollander shines but offense a no-show in 4-0 loss to Astros

An essential piece of the Rockies future shone bright Wednesday night That would be rookie right-hander Chase Dollander The present Pretty dim The Astros blanked the Rockies - at Dalkin Park the third time in the last five games the Rockies offense was whitewashed Dominated for seven innings by sinkerball lefty Framber Valdez Colorado - managed just four hits and was shut out for the th time this season Valdez allowed three hits all singles walked two and struck out five He got nine outs via groundballs He s one of the best pitchers in the contest especially left-handed Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer described reporters in Houston His curveball and sinker were really good He mixed the sinker to both sides of the plate and snuck it in there when he needed to He kept us on the ground He was just really good We had no answers for him tonight Dollander had several issues but they didn t overshadow his impressive performance The rookie right-hander allowed one run on three hits over six innings He struck out seven impressive but walked four problematic in the th start of his rookie season I thought he pitched really well and threw all of his pitches for strikes tonight Schaeffer revealed He was efficient and he got through the sixth A really good stepping stone for him moving forward The Astros took advantage of Dollander s scattered first inning Dollander issued a one-out walk to Yordan Alverez who cruised into second on a wild pitch Dollander struck out the dangerous Carlos Correa but yielded a two-out RBI single to Jesus Sanchez Dollander entered the competition searching for efficiency His pitches per inning was the highest among all major league starters minimum games started When the right-hander threw pitches in the first inning it looked like it would be another one of those games But Dollander settled in and finished throwing pitches strikes He induced double-play grounders in the fourth and fifth innings and averaged just pitches over his final five innings Related Articles Rockies Antonio Senzatela headed to bullpen German Marquez returning to rotation Rockies Mailbag Is a domed stadium in Colorado s future Tanner Gordon spins gem as Rockies snap four-game slide with series-opening win in Houston Rockies begin season at Miami host Phillies for home opener Pirates ace Paul Skenes dominates Rockies as Pittsburgh completes sweep Though Dollander has been battered at Coors Field starts ERA he s been excellent on the road In nine road starts he has a ERA Schaeffer is not buying into the idea that Dollander can t pitch at Coors For me it s just outing to outing it doesn t matter where he s at Schaeffer noted It s just a matter of him gaining confidence and learning from games that he s pitched It doesn t matter if it s at home or on the road I think it s too early in his career to deem him good in one place and not the other He s not had very numerous starts in the big leagues With Dollander out of the challenge Houston right away took advantage Cam Smith led off the seventh with a -foot homer to left off right-hander Nick Anderson to extend Houston s lead to - The Astros iced the meeting in the eighth on Alvarez s -foot two-run homer off right-hander Angel Chivilli whose early-season promise has faded away Chivilli now owns a ERA The Rockies who beat the Astros on Tuesday night will attempt to win the three-game series on Thursday afternoon Thursday s pitching matchup Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland - ERA at Astros RHP Jason Alexander - p m Thursday Daikin Park TV Rockies TV streaming Comcast Xfinity channel DirecTV Spectrum or depending on region Radio AM FM Trending The Rockies - success over the Astros in Tuesday night s series-opening challenge snapped their -game losing streak in Houston dating back to A domination in Wednesday night s encounter or in Thursday afternoon s championship would give Colorado its first series win in Houston since when the Astros were members of the National League Pitching probables Friday Cubs Cade Norton - at Rockies RHP German Marquez - p m Saturday Cubs RHP Javier Assad - at Rockies RHP Tanner Gordon - p m Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis