Halvorsen earns first save as Rockies' new-look 'pen turns heads

LOS ANGELES -- Rockies rookie reliever Seth Halvorsen waited for the phone to ring throughout the late innings on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium. And he waited, until he had the answer from manager Bud Black and pitching coach Darryl Scott.

“I didn’t know until the eighth inning ended,” Halvorsen said. “Then the phone rang and they told me that I was in the game.”

Halvorsen is part of a bullpen that, lately, has become younger and performed with precociousness. Not only did they do that in the 6-3 victory over the Dodgers, they dominated the matchup with the team in blue that is practically an evergreen World Series contender.

Halvorsen earned his first Major League save by using just four pitches to fan Max Muncy -- on a 100.2 mph four-seam fastball -- with the bases loaded for the final out to quiet a deafening crowd at the sold-out Dodger Stadium.

“That’s a good team,” Halvorsen said. “As far as my nerves, I’m trying to compete and execute a pitch at a time. So I’m trying to throw every pitch with the same mentality.”

The Rockies must win three of their final seven games to avoid a second straight triple digit-loss season. But the turnover to young, hard-throwing and unafraid relievers gives the current team a new look that it showed on Saturday:

• Lefty Luis Peralta replaced wavering starter Cal Quantill with the bases loaded and two out in the fifth, came from down 2-0 and fanned Gavin Lux on a 96.6 mph fastball.

• Peralta hit two batters, including Shohei Ohtani on a one-out slider in the sixth, but Victor Vodnik forced Betts into a double-play grounder with a changeup, and overcame a Ryan McMahon error in an otherwise clean seventh.

• Angel Chivilli walked Lux to open the eighth but escaped that inning by forcing a Hunter Feduccia double-play grounder.

“For those guys, they’re learning,” said manager Bud Black, who has known much defeat since leading the club to the postseason in 2017 and ’18, but has the gleam of a man who expects better years. “This is baptism under fire in the biggest way -- a venue like this, 55,000 people and the best players in the game against us.

“This is good stuff.”

A seventh-round pick out of the University of Tennessee just last year, Halvorsen, 24, was the first member of his Rockies MLB Draft class to debut when he pitched a scoreless third of an inning on Aug. 30. He is the first Rockies player since shortstop extraordinaire Troy Tulowitzki in 2006 to debut the year after being selected. But when it came to sudden advanced experiences, Saturday took the cake.

Charlie Blackmon’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth gave breathing room before Halvorsen faced an extremely difficult top of the Dodgers lineup -- Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman …

… and a few more.

Ohtani led off by dumping a single into left-center, and Halvorsen forced a Betts flyout. But Freddie Freeman and Tommy Edman worked walks, with a Teoscar Hernández flyout between. Those free passes were the first of Halvorsen’s Major League career.

“I’m sure the coaches will tell you that they’re glad something like this happened,” said McMahon, whose fifth-inning solo shot made him the 10th player in club history to fashion at least five seasons of 20 or more home runs. “He’s had so many clean innings where guys have no chance.

“To see him have some adversity in this environment is awesome.”

Of the pitchers who appeared in Friday’s 6-4 loss and on Saturday, the only one who has been in the Majors all season was Vodnik -- who opened eyes in his turn at closer, but has been regaining form since going on the injured list with right bicep inflammation in late August.

Chivilli yo-yoed between Colorado and Triple-A Albuquerque before coming up for good on July 30. Jaden Hill (two runs, one earned on Friday) debuted on Sept. 7, eight days after Halvorsen. Peralta -- who set a club record with a 12th straight scoreless appearance to start his career -- was in High-A and Double-A with the Pirates, and at Double-A Hartford with the Rockies before a pit stop in Triple-A and his Aug. 24 debut.

“We have a lot of talent, and it’s fun to come out here at the end of the season, build some momentum going into the offseason -- and basically have a chance to win a series tomorrow,” Halvorsen said.