With heat ineffective, Quantrill leans on split in Rox debut

PHOENIX -- As Cal Quantrill's barking right shoulder quieted down last season, he increased the use of his splitter. After being traded to the Rockies from the Guardians during the offseason, Quantrill felt the pitch would do him wonders.

But as was demonstrated in his Rockies debut on Friday night, a 7-3 loss to the D-backs at Chase Field, Quantrill’s split can only do so much when his basic fastballs aren’t landing.

His fastball and cutter weren’t effective, so there went his usual game plan. Quantrill, then, threw the splitter -- intended to be sprinkled in when he needed a swing and miss or a rollover grounder -- roughly 30 percent of the time, accounting for 26 of his 88 pitches. Last year, he used the pitch 12.3 percent of the time, although he threw the pitch more as he became healthier.

“It wasn’t my best day,” Quantrill said. “I wasn’t really commanding the fastball the way I wanted to. I could tell right at the first inning.

“We had to go to the second and third game plan. I thought we battled.”

In the first inning, Quantrill retired the first two batters before giving up consecutive homers to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Christian Walker as the Rockies fell behind, 2-0. Joc Pederson followed with a double that left fielder Nolan Jones nearly caught before Gabriel Moreno’s fly ball brought the frame to a merciful end after 31 pitches.

It was time to adjust.

Quantrill gave up five runs and nine hits across five innings, but given his early location struggles, making it that deep into the ballgame was something of an accomplishment. The right-hander did pitch into the sixth, but yielded a hit and surrendered a walk and was pulled before recording an out. He walked off the mound down, 3-1, but Jake Bird served up an Eugenio Suárez RBI single and an Alek Thomas three-run homer, increasing the deficit to 7-1.

Unlike Thursday night’s opener when Kyle Freeland had a performance to forget in the 16-1 loss, Quantrill’s work would have been passable in a high-scoring game. Of course, Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly made that impossible as he allowed one run across 6 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts. Elias Díaz’s second-inning homer was the Rockies’ only run and one of just three hits off Kelly.

Manager Bud Black will take Quantrill’s resourceful -- if unsuccessful -- performance in his season debut, and count on better next time.

“Earlier in the game, there were a lot of deeper counts,” Black said. “The first inning stressed him for sure. There were a couple really good at-bats by them and he missed on some pitches.

“He got some balls elevated for the two home runs in the first, but overall, I thought his stuff was fine. He maybe just tired there in the sixth with the walk to Moreno, but he battled and kept us in there.”

Well, he got to hone his developing pitch, and have enough other stuff to use it in proper quantities.

“I’m not going to try to throw it 30 or 40 percent -- that’s a little much,” Quantrill said. “I just had to go into the well a little bit and find something else.

“Probably not a long-term game plan, but for a day it’ll work.”