Rock Solid Recap: Christian Friedrich Shines In Big League Debut

Rockies 6, Padres 2 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Christian Friedrich

Rockies fans have been waiting anxiously for Christian Friedrich's big league. Well, today was the day, and the 24-year-old left-hander did not disappoint one bit. In fact, he managed to surpass even reasonable expectations — even against the Padres in San Diego — with a stellar line.

Christian Friedrich's Debut Line: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 7 K, 93 pitches (60 strikes)

Friedrich pounded the strike zone all day with a fastball ranging between 91-94, and kept Padres hitters off balance with a curveball in the 76-78 range and an effective changeup. I can only think of two pitches San Diego squared up. One was a lead-off single by Will Venable in the 1st that led to their first run. The other was Chase Headley's lead-off single in the 6th on a 3-2 pitch. Friedrich left him stranded.

San Diego's unearned run came after Marco Scutaro committed an error beginning the 3rd. Chase Headley followed that with a bloop single and then Yonder Alonso plated the run on a broken bat bloop double just out of Chris Nelson's reach.

In other words, Friedrich was really, really sharp today, and should have earned himself another turn in the rotation. And honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to several more turns.

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Lineup Card: Rockies @ Padres 5-9-12

Last Night: Recapping Another Rockies Loss And Remembering Jerry McMorris

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (12-17)

1. Marco Scutaro (SS)
2. Jonathan Herrera (2B)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
5. Jason Giambi (1B)
6. Wilin Rosario (C)
7. Chris Nelson (3B)
8. Dexter Fowler (CF)
9. Christian Friedrich (P)

Troy Tulowitzki sits after tweaking his groin on a bang-bang play at first base last night. Meanwhile, Todd Helton gets one of his routine days off. That leaves the debuting Christian Friedrich in a position where he has to be really, really sharp today to keep the Rockies offense in the game, and has to do with an even further weakened defense behind him.

Aside from that, no real pressure or anything. 

San Diego Padres (11-20)

1. Chris Denorfia (RF)
2. Cameron Maybin (CF)
3. Chase Headley (3B)
4. Yonder Alonso (1B)
5. Jesus Guzman (LF)
6. Nick Hundley (C)
7. Orlando Hudson (2B)
8. Andy Parrino (SS)
9. Anthony Bass (P)

More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton

Bad Day: Recapping Another Rockies Loss And Remembering Jerry McMorris

The Rockies suffered a couple tough losses on Tuesday. One of them on the field, which I'll cover like usual, and a bigger one off the field, which I'll touch on at the end.

Padres 3, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: We're on the road now so naturally this section will be filled with reports of didn't get the big hit, bad baserunning and made awful or old starting pitcher look great.

Tonight, that old starting pitcher was Jeff Suppan, who tossed five innings of one run ball on only four hits. Five Padres relievers took it from there, holding Colorado scoreless over the final 12 outs to get Suppan his second win of the year.

Speaking of bullpens, Jim Tracy is struggling to juggle his right now (when isn't he, honestly) as he elected to use Esmil Rogers to finish the 7th — which he did after his walk to Cameron Maybin loaded the bases and then he struck out Chase Headley — and start the 8th.

The 8th was, as many predicted, a mess. It started with a four-pitch walk to Yonder Alonso. Soon to be released Orlando Hudson followed that with an RBI triple. And then for good measure, Rogers intentionally walked John Baker before taking his leave.

It really was the most Esmil Rogers relief appearance possible.

Turning Point: Remember last night when the Rockies blew their best chance at a rally by making consecutive awful outs at second base?

They were even more creative tonight.

In the 9th inning, Colorado had runners at the corners with one out and Jordan Pacheco at the plate. My thought at that point being if Pacheco doesn't hit into a double play here, we have a chance because Carlos Gonzalez is due next.

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