Gabriel Hughes keeps giving the Rockies something to build on.
The rookie right-hander handled a Nationals lineup loaded with left-handed bats Wednesday afternoon, striking out five and allowing one run over five innings before Colorado’s game unraveled into an 8-0 loss at Coors Field. By the time Hughes was done, the Rockies were still in position in the deciding game of the three-game set. By the time the dust settled, the mistakes had piled up around him.
Before the game, Hughes and pitching coach Alon Leichman went through Washington’s order and noticed just how unusual the matchup was.
“We’d just gone over everyone, and I asked him kind of offhandedly, ‘By the way, how many lefties is that?’” Hughes said.
“He said, ‘That’s eight of nine, actually.’ and I said, ‘Oh, OK.’ Can’t say that happens super often, but we had a good game plan for them all.”
Hughes has been around the big leagues long enough now to start building a case for himself. He debuted in relief on July 3, then moved into the starting role the Rockies had in mind when they took him 10th overall in the 2022 MLB Draft. Through his first three Major League starts, he has struck out 18, leaving him two shy of the club record for that span, set by Christian Friedrich in 2012.
That kind of start matters for a Rockies team that has been burned too often in tight series finales. Colorado’s 11 losses in rubber games are tied with the Phillies and Red Sox for the most in the Majors this season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Hughes’ work has been one of the few encouraging signs as the club tries to move forward.
There’s also a bigger picture taking shape in the rotation. Right now, the group is mostly made up of veterans in contract years: Kyle Freeland, Tomoyuki Sugano, Michael Lorenzen and Jose Quintana, who is working back from an elbow injury.
The Trade Deadline is coming Aug 3 at 4 p.m. MT, so some of that could shift soon.
Even so, the Rockies are clearly looking ahead.
Ryan Feltner has shown elite stuff but has been slowed by injuries and inconsistency in his 82 games, 81 of them starts, over six seasons. Tanner Gordon, in his third year, has bounced between the rotation and long relief. And Chase Dollander, the ninth overall pick in 2023, is expected to return sometime next year after Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.
Hughes, 24, has already had his own detour through Tommy John surgery in 2023, but he’s starting to look like a real piece of the puzzle.
“He pitched great, gave us a chance to win,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “Attacked with his heater - attack, attack, attack.
Good body language. Good poise.
Breaking ball for punchouts, good changeup. He did it all today.”
Coors Field hasn’t seemed to bother him, either. In three games there, including two starts, Hughes has posted a 2.03 ERA with a .250 batting average against. In his first home start last Friday, he held the Reds to two runs in 5 1/3 innings.
That comfort isn’t accidental. Hughes grew up preparing at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian, Idaho, at about 2,600 feet above sea level. He also logged plenty of Triple-A innings this year in Albuquerque and other higher-altitude parks in the Pacific Coast League.
On Wednesday, all of that showed up in the way he worked through a lineup full of lefties. The at-bats were long at times, but he never lost the thread. The only run against him came in the fifth, when Jorbit Vivas tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly.
“What worked today was fastball-curveball-changeup, and some of those pitches, even when we’re not at altitude, are moving 20-22 inches,” Hughes said. “My fastball plays like a cutter, and I can utilize that really well.
My curveball plays off that - there’s a speed difference. But the biggest thing is just attacking the zone.”
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