Stellar preparation sets Rea up for gem at Coors Field

DENVER -- For all the ways in which technology has transformed pitching into a science, sometimes you’re reminded that it’s still an art.

That was the case Wednesday for steady Brewers starter Colin Rea, who grew up on a farm in Iowa but looked perfectly comfortable at high altitude while delivering seven scoreless innings and combining with Jakob Junis for an eight-hit shutout in a 3-0 win over the Rockies at Coors Field.

Christian Yelich celebrated making the National League All-Star team with a first-inning home run, and Rea took things from there, scattering six hits without a walk to win his fifth consecutive decision dating back to the middle of May. Rea owns a 2.56 ERA over 45 2/3 innings in that stretch.

He extended his run of success in an unfriendly environment for pitchers. Rea is the second Brewers pitcher to toss at least seven innings without allowing a run in a Coors Field start, the first since Chris Capuano did it in 2005.

“You might change your strategy, you might change your emphasis, but you’ve still got to go compete pitch to pitch and figure out a way,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “You just can’t let it get in your head. Colin Rea didn’t, that’s for sure. And that tells you everything you need to know about that young man.”

The seeds for Wednesday’s success were planted two days earlier during Rea’s between-starts bullpen at Coors Field. Typically, he would have been flanked by a TrackMan device, which makes a series of readings on every pitch and helps pitchers and coaches analyze where to tweak.

At altitude, the calculus is more complicated. Rea’s two-seam fastball, for example, was missing 5-6 inches of horizontal movement in Wednesday’s game from its peak in other outings, according to Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook.

Would it benefit Rea to know the specifics of that diminished movement going into a game?

Or is it best to turn off the TrackMan and just pitch?

Rea and Hook opted to leave the TrackMan in its case and just pitch.

“It helps with not overthinking, not trying to do too much,” Rea said. “It was 50/50. You want to see how your pitches are moving, but at the same time, you don’t want to get it in your head that they’re not, and then you tinker with stuff.”

Said Hook: “His intent was crazy intense tonight. If we can do that in a ‘normal’ start, we’re in business.”

Rea still had to make some subtle adjustments to make it work. One was a focus on mechanics that led to increased extension, which topped out at 7.2 feet -- up from his season average of 6.7 feet. Better extension means releasing the baseball closer to the hitter, which is a weapon for a 6-foot-5 pitcher like Rea.

“I think the only thing different was we emphasized being down in the zone, and then we took our shots going up in the zone at times,” Rea said. “My delivery felt really good tonight. Timing was good. William [Contreras, the catcher] was moving in and out. I just felt like we were executing.”

Consider the context. Rea’s 3.34 ERA and 94 1/3 innings have been critical for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who are relying on depth over star power in their new-look rotation, and have stretched that depth beyond the expected limit.

Twice in the past eight days the Brewers have gone outside the organization to plug holes in the rotation, first getting veteran left-hander Dallas Keuchel from the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate on June 25 and then making another trade Wednesday morning for Rays right-hander Aaron Civale, who, when he starts at Dodger Stadium later this week, will become the 16th pitcher to start a game for the Brewers this season.

The Brewers led wire-to-wire thanks to Yelich’s home run off Colorado starter Dakota Hudson, just a few hours after Yelich learned he and Contreras had earned starts in the upcoming All-Star Game. The pitchers did the rest. After Rea, Junis covered the final two innings for his second career save.

“To go seven like [Rea] did tonight, it has to be one of the best starts of his career given the circumstances of this place,” Junis said. “He’s been a huge part of this team, giving you five, six, seven innings every time out. He’s been reliable. He takes the ball every single five days.

“There’s a lot of stuff he’s doing that is really impressive, and the guys in this locker room know that.”