'Rattled' in shaky 1st, Blach gets big K, then cruises to win

DENVER -- Rockies left-hander Ty Blach admitted to wobbling when his best-laid plan got slugged in the first inning Wednesday night.

Blach threw a below-the-zone changeup, but the Guardians’ David Fry swatted it into center to put the Rockies down two runs, raising questions in Blach’s mind.

“That one kind of rattled me a little bit, knowing that I threw a good changeup and he got a hit,” Blach said. “I got a little timid.”

Blach walked the next two hitters, but he ended the mess by striking out Austin Hedges with the bases loaded -- same pitch, far better result -- then jogged resiliently to the dugout. Then, showing that one shaky inning wasn’t going to keep him down, Blach finished his season-high seven innings with a season-high five strikeouts and no further scoring, and the Rockies won, 7-4, at Coors Field.

“I was able to throw a good one to Hedges, get out of that inning, and then settled back in,” Blach said.

Take an early punch, bounce back. Blach’s night encapsulated the Rockies’ performance of the last three weeks.

Starting with a seven-game winning streak from May 9-15, the Rockies have won 12 of their last 19 games. They’ve won four of their last six series, with the wins coming against the defending World Series champion Rangers, the Padres, the MLB-best Phillies and the Guardians, who entered Wednesday with the American League’s best record.

Blach’s season is a comeback story of sorts. The last three seasons, Blach reported to Spring Training with uncertainty but was there when the Rockies needed him.

Last year, Blach went 3-3 with a 5.54 ERA, but his better work was in his 13 starts to help a depleted rotation. The Rockies removed him from the 40-man Major League roster in the offseason but brought him back under a Minor League contract. Blach had a 5.25 Cactus League ERA. Nonetheless, there was an argument for keeping him on the squad.

But partly because the Rockies decided to keep righty Anthony Molina rather than trigger contingencies attached to his Rule 5 Draft status, Blach didn’t make the roster. The Rockies gave him time to find a Major League opportunity. Without one coming, Blach reported to Triple-A Albuquerque, thinking not about the numbers game that kept him off the big league team but about improvement.

“Unfortunately, I gave up some runs in big situations late in games,” he said. “That’s how it goes in spring sometimes. You don’t have the same scouting reports. You don’t know how to attack hitters, and everybody is getting a feel for the game.

“So for me to go down to Albuquerque and gain that confidence that I can get guys out gives me confidence here.”

The Rockies selected his contract on April 21, then placed him in the rotation after three relief appearances. Blach has served them well. He has a 5.06 ERA in five starts, but most of the damage occurred in a three-inning, six-run struggle at San Francisco on May 18. He has not yielded more than two runs in any of his other May starts.

Wednesday’s start looked dicey, however.

The series opener with the Guardians was a bullpen game, and relievers absorbed much of Tuesday’s 13-7 defeat. Then Blach faced eight batters in a shaky first inning.

“Huge strikeout of Hedges to get out of the first, so big,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “Bases loaded, two outs. A hit there, the whole world changes.”

The Rockies broke open Wednesday’s victory with six runs in the second against Guardians lefty Logan Allen. The significant hit was Brendan Rodgers’ second home run of the season. To be fair, Rodgers entered batting .308 over his previous 30 games. But despite being the cleanup hitter in Black’s Opening Day lineup, Rodgers had just one previous homer this season.

Blach did the rest.

“He was playing the crisscross game, cutter, sinker,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We've struggled with that this year. ... He was painting the knees with the fastball -- throwing a really good change off of that.”

Blach said staying steady -- something he has had practice doing -- kept him effective after the rough first.

“Especially at Coors Field, we know anything and everything is going to happen,” said Blach, who has the added knowledge that goes with being a Denver native. “As many innings as I’ve thrown professionally, 1,400 or something like that, it gives me the confidence to be like, ‘I’ve been in every situation I can imagine.’”