The education of Franklin Morales continues. After Sunday’s lesson, he deserved an A-plus and a gold star.
It wasn’t just that the rookie left-hander befuddled the Diamondbacks for six scoreless innings with his 94 mph fastball and knee-buckling curve. Or that he opened with three perfect innings, threw first-pitch strikes and limited Arizona to two hits.
It was his ability to clean up his own mess that was most impressive and important.
In the fourth inning, for instance, Morales nearly buried himself. Arizona’s Orlando Hudson stroked a two-out single to left and moved to second when Morales was called for a balk. At that point, it looked as if Morales would lose his poise, as he did so many times during spring training. And when he walked Conor Jackson and Mark Reynolds to load the bases, he looked close to a meltdown. Instead, the 22-year-old got 20-year-old Justin Upton to foul out to Todd Helton down the first-base line.
“I just concentrated on the batter,” he said. “And I commanded my pitches.”
Morales’ fifth was an adventure, too, but with runners on second and third, he got Eric Byrnes to ground out to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to end the inning. Morales set the Diamondbacks down in order in the sixth, striking out Reynolds to end the inning.
“His overall command was very much improved,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He was in the diamond lane when he first got here and there is still a lot of work to do. That being said, he knows what he needs to improve on. Dealing with adversity is one, dealing with traffic on the bases is another. He was able to address those challenges today in real nice fashion.”
No speeches.
Before the Rockies’ 5-2, 10-inning loss to the Diamondbacks, Hurdle made it clear he is not going to try to shake things up with a rah-rah speech to his players.
“We had three team meetings all last year,” Hurdle said. “I don’t think it’s necessary. I do it when it’s appropriate. When you want to sit them down, you want to have their ear. When I sit them down, I have their ear.”
Hurdle also said he doesn’t need to remind the team, now the loser of five straight, about its current flaws.
“Right now, they’re more than aware of where we’ve come up short, collectively, individually and all that,” he said. “They’re going about every different way to improve their play.”
Footnotes.
Hurdle and a number of his players are battling a nasty virus that has spread through the Rockies’ clubhouse. . . . In addition to players and coaches, select team employees also received National League championship rings Sunday, including Tony Cowell, the pioneer of the Coors Field humidor. . . . Helton’s RBI single in the third inning Sunday marked the first time the Rockies scored before their opponent all season. . . . Tulowitzki snapped an 0-for-18 slump with a single in the first inning.
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
