With Aaron Cook struggling and Jorge De La Rosa gone for the season, the Rockies need Jhoulys Chacin to be at his best. Instead, Chacin, to use his own word, was at his worst Thursday.
“That was the worst start I’ve had throughout my career,” Chacin said. “I couldn’t throw anything over the plate. I have to work and find what I need to do to keep the ball over the plate.”
Chacin’s problems started early in a 9-6 loss to Atlanta. He walked leadoff hitter Martin Prado on four pitches and was gone two outs into the fifth inning. He threw 37 balls among his first 65 pitches and finished with 61 strikes and 52 balls.
“We pitched terribly,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “Jhoulys didn’t start at all the way you’d want to see it. He had no command of anything.”
Chacin’s issues go beyond Thursday’s outing. He was 8-4 on June 15, putting himself in position for a possible all-star berth. Since then, he’s 0-3 with a 5.55 ERA in six starts.
On Thursday, he coughed up a 4-0 lead, no thanks to a career-high seven walks.
“I put the team in a really bad situation,” Chacin said. “I’m not going to put my head down. I need to get my confidence back and not think too much about mechanics. In my next start, I’m just going to throw strikes. If they’re going to hit it, hit it.”
Chacin said fatigue isn’t an issue. His only personal goal remains to pitch 200-plus innings. He’s on pace for 209.
Footnotes. Matt Reynolds took the loss, allowing a double, a triple and a home run in one-third of an inning as the Braves put up a four-spot in the seventh. Said Reynolds: “It’s kind of a bad formula to get outs. Fall behind, can’t get secondary pitches over and leave mistakes out over the plate to get pummeled.” . . . Switch-hitter Brooks Conrad was 0-for-8 with five strikeouts vs. lefties before hitting a solo homer off Reynolds. . . . Dexter Fowler’s wild ride included a two-run triple and three strikeouts, which matched Ian Stewart’s K total. Said Troy Tulowitzki: “Dexter and Stew have come back (from Triple-A) for what a lot of people might say is their last chance. They’ve played better, but we’re definitely going to need them to win games.” . . . Esmil Rogers, who opened the season as the No. 5 starter, allowed 10 hits and three runs in six innings in a Thursday rehab start at Colorado Springs.
