Millwood, Rockies bullpen shut out Padres
Kevin Millwood pitched seven shutout innings as the Colorado Rockies snapped a three-game losing streak by taking the first of three against the San Diego Padres, 3-0.
Millwood, who pitched seven innings for the third time in three starts with the Rockies, scattered seven singles and struck out a season-high eight. Five of the seven hits came before the first out was recorded in the bottom of the third, but Millwood settled in as the game went on, at one point retiring 10 in a row.
Relievers Rex Brothers and Rafael Betancourt completed the shutout, with Betancourt picking up his fifth save.
The Rockies were outhit eight to seven, but did more with their baserunners, despite leaving the bases loaded in both the eighth and ninth innings. Two runs scored in the fourth when center fielder Will Venable misplayed a Dexter Fowler fly ball into a triple, the Rockies first hit of the game. Fowler scored on a single by Jonathan Herrera, who moved up to second on the throw and third on a passed ball then scored on a Troy Tulowitzi groundout. Herrera scored the Rockies’ final run in the six, singling with one out, moving up on a wild pitched and scoring on a Tulowitzki single.
Millwood has to be performing better than O’Dowd and scouts could have ever expected.
He’s been very good. He’s always been a guy to get hit, give up homers but he looks strong now.
Nice O’Dowd move. Give credit when due.
For the right price, and a one year deal,Millwood would look good filling the Cook/Hamel slot.Especially if the rest of rotation is as young as it projects.Like having another coach and hopefully an innings eater.With 3 of 5 parks in our division being flyball “friendly”,I think he could be a 200in.-.500% guy and a steading influence.Truthfully,he is exhibiting the first REAL PITCHING since DLR went down and Chacin went south!
Yeah if Millwood can finish off this season pitching as well as he has up to this point, is there any doubt he will be back next season on a one year deal?
I agree Millwood has looked more than okay. The Rockies should give him a 1 year contract and trade Hammel asap for whatever they can get.
Nice to see one of these kind of wins where all the runs are on base hits with runners on and sacrifices rather than solo HRs.
I’m for this guy being our number 1 guy next yr, he has big ones, and there is still fire and passion in his belly.
It’s not just up to the Rockies to decide–other teams can make offers, too. Seems doubtful that a guy with a career 2.8/9 BB rate, w/a career best of 2.3/9, suddenly really is a 1.1/9 guy. If he comes back, he’s going to be just another guy in the mix as a 37 yr old with a mixed track record in recent years. It also doesn’t change that you need to head into a season with more than 5 good candidates if you can manage it.
If they resign him, then you’d have Millwood, Chacin, White, Hammel, Rogers, Pomeranz in the mix. (can we hope for Nicasio, too?) That’s a lot of uncertainty. Millwood would be the only one w/a 200 inning season, and that happened in 2006. They’ll definitely be on the hunt for a couple starting pitchers this off-season.
Reader, f/k/a Mike, don’t forget that DLR will hopefully be back in the rotation midseason. And there may be others who might be able to be in the rotation by the end of the season (Scahill or Williamson, maybe even Bettis or Cabrera or Friedrich if he figures things out). I think that next year is tough because the Rockies may have enough starting pitchers by late next year, but maybe not enough starting pitchers for the beginning of the season, because who knows if either Nicasio or Pomeranz can be ready to be a starter at the beginning of the season, and perhaps Hammel gets traded or ends up in the bullpen as the long reliever/spot starter. And who knows if the Rockies can resign Millwood.
Millwood’s habit of getting through 7 innings should certainly get him an invitation to spring training, at the very least. One hears that he likes pitching here and I think I read that he’s a CO resident in the off-season, so that seems like a good match. We could do worse for a number 4 or 5 starter. I’d love to see Nicasio pitch again, but I was thrilled just to see him walking. It’s frustrating that we’re all talking about spring training on September 2nd: we have a lot to do in the off-season.
I understand Chacin is skipping a turn because of tonsils or something like that but couldn’t they use a September call up to replace his as a starter rather than Hammel. We all know what Hammel can do and more to the point what he can’t do. Even if he pitches well in one start, all it means is that he will have 3 or 4 bad ones after that.
I’ve been occupied with other things this past week and haven’t kept up the Rocks and ITR as much as I would like but am I correct in that the only guy they brought up so fare was Spilly. Will they bring more guys up after the minor league seasons are over?