Rockies offense can’t support Dollander’s strong start, blanked again

Rockies Report, Game 14:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: The San Diego Padres are one of two teams in the last 30 years with five shutouts in their first 15 games.

The Colorado Rockies have set a club record for most games with two or fewer runs in their first 14 games.

The last two nights are what happens when you cross those two on the Venn diagram. Friday night’s damage was total; Saturday’s was tempered by outstanding work from rookie right-hander Chase Dollander in his second major-league start and no-hit work from bullpen arms Jimmy Herget and Tyler Kinley over 2 1/3 innings.

But the result was another shutout, this one by a 2-0 count.

The struggling offense showed a gasp of life in the ninth inning when Zac Veen and Kyle Farmer both reached base, doubling the Rockies’ hit tally for the night from two to four.

But Fernando Tatis Jr. ran down Kris Bryant’s line drive just shy of the right-field wall, and a potential game-tying hit was merely a first-pitch, game-ending out that dropped the beleaguered Bryant’s average to .154.

Veen’s ninth-inning infield single was one of just two hits by a Rockies player other than Farmer in the last two games — both of which the team played without center fielder Brenton Doyle, who is dealing with a right quadriceps issue.

Farmer is 5-for-7 so far in the series against the Padres. The rest of the Rockies are 2-for-53.

Colorado dropped to 3-11 and now sits alone at the bottom of MLB.

STARTER’S REPORT: More nights like this, and Dollander’s starts will become appointment viewing around these parts.

That said, Saturday night didn’t start well for the 2023 first-rounder. Tatis greeted him by crushing a fastball to center field for a leadoff home run. It marked the second time in as many starts that Dollander yielded a first-inning home run.

But resilience is Dollander’s primary attribute. Just as he bounced back last Sunday, he did so against the Padres. The next two battles against Tatis served as examples; Dollander struck him out both times. In the third inning, he froze Tatis with a curveball that caught the outside of the plate for strike three. In the fifth inning, Dollander got Tatis to chase a slider well outside for strike three.

Only Jason Heyward’s 410-foot blast of a Dollander fastball into the right-field seats in the bottom of the fifth inning marred the rest of Dollander’s work after that initial belch at the start.

Dollander lasted 93 pitches, throwing 58 strikes.

The ledger says he took the loss, but the scoreboard says that only one bad pitch would have been enough for him to get the L; a lack of run support has been part and parcel of the Rockies’ miserable start. The two home runs allowed for a second-straight start will be a concern; both were on fastballs. But his variety of pitches and effectiveness was impressive.

The signs of becoming a future ace are there — not just in his arm, but in his unflappable demeanor.

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Tatis grabbed Bryant’s line drive for the final out.

ROCKIES NUMBER TO NOTE: 152 — Number of strikeouts for the Rockies this season, a 14-game total exceeded by only two teams — the 2018 Orioles and 2023 Giants — in the modern era. The 2020 Braves also had 152 strikeouts.

But all of those teams had more runs than the Rockies — and in the cases of the ’23 Giants and ’20 Braves, substantially more; they had 69 and 74 runs through 14 games, respectively. The ’18 Orioles had 47 runs through 14 games. Colorado has 40 runs through 14 games, last in MLB — and this year’s edition is tied with the 2019 team for the fewest runs through 14 games in team history.

ROCKIES UNIFORM: Black hat with purple bill, gray jersey, gray pants. The Rockies are 0-3 in this look.

WHAT’S NEXT: Kyle Freeland looks to bounce back after a rough home start in the series finale Sunday at Petco Park. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. MDT.