WASHINGTON — When Chad Bettis is on his game, he’s like, you know, a totally radical pitcher with a gnarly changeup, for sure.
“Chad Bettis, you could say, is a pitcher who pitched back in my era,” manager Bud Black said before the Rockies’ 5-1 victory over the Nationals on Thursday night.
Black’s era, in case you haven’t guessed, was mostly in the 1980s, when a blinding fastball was not a prerequisite for big-league success.
“In my era, you saw a lot more pitchers who really had to change speeds and move the ball around,” Black continued. “In my era, there wasn’t the overpowering velocity and stuff that you see now. You had pitchers who truly needed to disrupt timing and move the ball, in and out and up and down. They tried to get the ball off the center of the bat.”
Bettis, making his third start of the season, was superb, pitching seven innings, allowing one run on three hits with five strikeouts and only two walks. He improved to 2-0 and whittled his ERA to 2.04.
Bettis, 28, has become a craftsman.
“It’s nice to be referred as that,” he said. “That’s kind of how I pitch. I don’t have the 95 or 97 fastball anymore, so you have to work around that. Command is a big part of my game and tonight it was good.”
He struck out Washington leadoff hitter Trea Turner with an 85 mph changeup in the first inning, and the utilized an 84 mph slider to get Howie Kendrick to hit into a groundball double play to end the second.
He set up perennial National league MVP candidate Bryce Harper with a 72 mph curveball, then struck him out with an 84 mph change to end a one-two-three fourth inning. He whiffed Harper again in the sixth, this time on an 88 mph change.
Bettis survived a rough fifth inning, when it appeared that the Nationals were beginning to time him up. Kendrick hit a two-out, solo blast to deep center on a hanging changeup, then Bettis walked Matt Weiters, and then served up a double to deep center to pinch-hitter Moises Sierra. But he induced Michael Taylor to chop out to third baseman Nolan Arenado to limit the damage.
Bettis’ top fastball velocity was just 91 mph, slow by contemporary standards, but it didn’t matter much on this night.
“Chad is a student of the game,” veteran catcher Chris Iannetta said. “He has a game plan and he executes it.”
Jon Gray, who slings his fastball to the plate at 95-98 mph, throws a hard slider at 89-90 mph and can drop in a big-bending curveball, has better pure “stuff” than Bettis, but the results this season have not been better.
Gray, who is close friends with Bettis, admires Bettis as a “thinking man’s pitcher.”
“It’s all about his game planning and execution,” Gray said. “He’s very detailed on his plan. He knows what he wants to do, but he’s not predictable.”
Moreover, Gray said, Bettis can modify his blueprint during a game, something the younger Rockies pitchers continue to struggle with.
“Chad has a an A, B, and a C game plan and he’s able to adjust,” Gray said. “That’s what sticks out for me.”
Blackmon update. Center fielder Charlie Blackmon was out of the starting lineup for the third consecutive game because of tightness in his right quadriceps. However, a trip to the 10-day disabled list looks unlikely. Both Black and head athletic trainer Keith Dugger both said that Blackmon was much improved.
Ian Desmond, who played in 927 games for the Nationals, second-most in franchise history, made the start in center field.
Dahl watch. Outfielder David Dahl won’t be getting called up from Triple-A Albuquerque anytime soon. The fan favorite is on the seven-day disabled list with what the club is calling “an illness.”
After making a big splash as a rookie in 2016, Dahl played in only a few minor-league games last season, and played in no major-league games, as he recovered from a stress-reaction injury to a rib in the upper-back area.
