DENVER -- Rockies right-handed reliever Robert Stephenson’s quick adjustment to the difference between pitching at altitude and at sea level has put him increasingly in more important situations.

If Stephenson, 28, becomes successful in high-leverage situations, he could be one end of a classic trade that helps both teams. The Rockies acquired Stephenson, a first-round Draft pick of the Reds in 2011, from Cincinnati on Nov. 25 for right-hander Jeff Hoffman, the key piece when Colorado traded shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays in 2015. Hoffman is 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA in three starts for the Reds.

Stephenson pitched a scoreless seventh in Wednesday’s 6-3 victory over the Astros, and he has a 3.24 ERA through 8 1/3 innings over nine appearances. He threw a spotless two-strikeout inning Sunday in the Rockies' 2-1 loss to the Mets -- an indication he could be in line for important innings as the bullpen searches for dependable work in close games. Stephenson worked the ninth in Tuesday's 6-2 victory against Houston, after Colorado opened a comfortable lead in the eighth, and he protected a four-run lead Wednesday.

“I got my feet wet a little bit [of high-leverage relief pitching] in 2019,” said Stephenson, who gravitated toward the bullpen after several trials in the Reds’ rotation. “I love being in that position, so I'd love to get back into a position where I'm thrown in close ballgames again. But you know, for right now I want to go out and take the ball whenever they asked me to do whatever the team needs me to do.”

Stephenson appeared in three games during the season-opening homestand and in three on the Rockies’ first road trip, against the Giants and the Dodgers. Keen on information and analysis, Stephenson was a quick study.

“The main things that I’ve been looking at, especially for the differences, home and road, are the horizontal and vertical movements,” Stephenson said. “Talking about the slider, especially with that one I get a lot more horizontal movement on the road. So that was a challenge when we went to San Francisco the first time, being on the road after being at Coors.”

The slider has been effective in both outings since the end of the trip.

Stephenson said his fastball difference is not as dramatic between home and the road. But either place, it’s important.

When Stephenson met with Rockies coaches, they continued what has been a career-long coaching point -- trust the fastball. Between a tendency to exert more effort and some bad results, Stephenson has tended to rely too much on the slider.

Rockies manager Bud Black said Stephenson has shown consistent fastball location since the season began.

“The thing that has stood out that was different than Spring Training is, the fastball is in the strike zone and the slider also is in the strike zone,” Black said. “The slider has always been pretty consistent from March spring games until now, and I think there’s some growing confidence.”

Fastball Dom
Approach met the right pitch Tuesday for Rockies catcher Dom Nuñez’s seventh-inning home run off the Astros’ Ryne Stanek.

Nuñez, a rookie, has supreme confidence against the fastball. He is 8-for-34 (.234) with four home runs, one double and one triple, and before Wednesday's 2-for-4 performance, all six of his hits were on fastballs. Stanek had combined a fastball, mostly balanced with a split-finger pitch, to hold opponents to two hits in 9 1/3 innings going into Wednesday. Both were home runs.

Nuñez has built his early-career approach around hunting heaters.

“Velo doesn’t really bother me, to be honest with you,” Nuñez said. “If I’m ready to hit and I’m in a good position, I should be good.”

The trick will be to broaden, but experience must lead him in that direction. And Wednesday, he singled on José Urquidy's changeup in the second and doubled on Brandon Bielak's curve in the sixth.

“With Dom, he never comes off the fastball, and there have been a lot of good hitters who hit that way,” Black said. “Then they learn over time to make that adjustment to hit secondary pitches. It’s a skill to be able to do both. Dom will get there over the early part of his career.”

Appreciating any kind of crowd noise
Tuesday’s crowd was expectedly small for a post-pandemic, freezing night, but it was lively. And as will be the case with successful opponents, a good number were not cheering for the home team. That’s why Nuñez gave the “shush” sign as he rounded third after the homer.

“Just some fans were giving me a lot of grief last night, I have no idea why,” Nuñez said, smiling. “It was really during that at-bat. I clipped it. I knew I got it.

"It was just a silent gesture to let them know I could hear them talking.”