First-inning walks, pitch location haunt Hudson

TORONTO – Right-hander Dakota Hudson displayed the worst and the best of recent Rockies starting pitching during Saturday afternoon’s 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

The first inning was the downside. Unable to locate his fastball down in the zone, Hudson walked Davis Schneider with the bases loaded, then left a fastball up that Daulton Varsho deposited for a grand slam and the Rockies had a five-run deficit.

The sequence raised the Rockies’ total of first-inning runs yielded to 22. As of the end of their game Saturday, it was the most first-inning runs allowed in baseball. The Astros were second with 17.

It turned out five runs were too many for the Rockies -- although they might have made up for it if not for a baserunning mistake in the fourth by Elias Díaz. At any rate, Hudson found a rhythm, lasted through six innings, yielded just two hits and a walk after the first and retired the final nine batters he faced.

“I came back in and had a good meeting with Darryl [Scott, the pitching coach] and Ellie [Díaz], and pulled the reins back a little bit,” Hudson said. “I tried to find some rhythm, some tempo to take forward.

“I was up in the zone. I wasn’t landing the breaking stuff. They were hunting heaters and I gave them to them in some bad spots.”

However, strings of solid innings have been predictable for Rockies starters of late. The Rockies have won just two of their last seven games. However, the Rockies have had quality starts in four of those games. In this stretch, Saturday was the only time the Rockies’ starter gave up more than three earned runs.

Hudson’s second through sixth innings were in line with recent Rockies work.

“Two walks came back to haunt him and then he fell behind Varsho and threw a fastball, middle, but from that point on he started getting the ball down,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He threw five scoreless innings [after the first inning] -- pitched very, very well.

“His fastball actually ticked up today over the last couple of starts. That’s a good sign. He threw his best fastball in the sixth inning. But there’s no doubt he’d love to have the first inning back.”

Hudson kept the Rockies in the game. Brenton Doyle launched his third homer of the season, a solo shot in the third off Yariel Rodríguez.

In the fourth with two on and two out, Elehuris Montero’s bloop landed fair just past diving left fielder Schneider. But Díaz, the lead runner, forgot the number of outs and didn’t run on contact.

Had Díaz scored, it’s possible the speedy Jones would have scored to make it a two-run game. Instead, nobody scored.

As it were, Brendan Rodgers’ two-run single in the sixth left the Rockies with the two-run deficit that ended up the margin of defeat.

Hudson’s improved pitching gave them a chance. Black noted that at the start, Hudson struggled with the release point of his pitches. Although it was corrected, it was too late for Hudson to feel truly good about it.

“That’s kind of a timing thing -- I was a little under the ball,” Hudson said of the rough beginning. “I can say whatever. But at the end of the day, the execution is all that matters.”