Twelve days ago, Rockies left-handed pitcher Austin Gomber cast a frustrated look at his statistics. Then he realized he wasn’t controlling the emotions that fueled him, and his own frustration was a root cause of his poor work.

So Gomber stopped being so hard on himself. And after controlling the Padres for two straight starts -- including holding them to one run in six innings of Tuesday night’s 2-1, 10-inning loss at Petco Park -- his stat page is easier on his eyes.

Since giving up five runs, including two homers, in a May 7 loss in his return to St. Louis, Gomber has lowered his ERA from 6.35 to 4.96. Also on Tuesday, Gomber struck out seven and walked just one. After issuing an uncharacteristic 20 walks in his first 29 innings, he has 18 strikeouts against two walks in his last 16 1/3.

“I’m in a better spot than I was a couple weeks ago,” Gomber said. “My delivery feels good. I feel like I’m in the strike zone, competing with every pitch. No complaints from me. There were a couple of things I did tonight that I’d like to have back, but for the most part, it’s been trending in the right direction.”

Gomber was not happy about giving up the tying run in the second, but he was in control throughout. He also showed mettle in the fifth after giving up a two-out double to Jake Cronenworth, inducing a harmless flyball from Austin Nola to end the threat. And the emotion was in the right place -- especially as he left the mound after the sixth.

“I do like a pitcher who shows emotion if that’s who he is,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “After the last out in the sixth, we saw a little bit there. Even though he might show emotion and you might see some body language, his focus is in a good spot.”

Last Wednesday, Gomber matched up with the Padres’ Blake Snell and yielded just one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings of an eventual 3-2 Rockies victory in a doubleheader nightcap. This time around, another matchup with Snell produced co-equal prideful performances. Both went six, both yielded five hits.

They even had matching clutch, second-inning sequences. Snell fanned the bottom of the Rockies' order after facing second and third with no outs and one run across; Gomber had second and third and no outs, but he stopped the bottom of the order and surrendered just one run.

Snell fanned more batters, 11-7, but all in all, Gomber held serve against a pitcher who starred in last year’s World Series.

“We've had two in a row against each other and, obviously, he’s a great pitcher,” Gomber said. “So, you know, you're gonna have to be on your 'A' game every time to get a chance to win. We went back and forth a little bit tonight.”

Gomber is one of many examples of the 2021 Rockies.

He arrived at Spring Training with a curveball of high enough quality that it sparked visions of who he can be. The problem is turning that into reality can take time. Walk-filled early performances occurred -- in much the same way that the team’s periodic bouts with poor situational hitting (an issue Tuesday) and undependable bullpen work (a problem during the last homestand) are among reasons the team dropped to 5-17 in one- and two-run games.

But performances like Gomber’s offer hope that lessons can be learned. Tuesday was a challenge: The first time in his Major League career he’d faced the same opponent in consecutive starts. It challenged his stated goal to “always get smarter,” and increased his knowledge of himself as a starter, as well as an opponent he’ll have to face frequently in the National League West.

“He’s learning, too -- he doesn’t have a lot of Major League innings underneath his belt,” Black said. “But we have a lot of confidence in him moving forward. Today was one of many, hopefully, starts in this young man’s career.”