Rockies starting pitcher Jon Gray said it best.
“Only in a movie, right?”
Except that the fantastical tale of relief pitcher Daniel Bard is 100% true.
Saturday afternoon at Globe Life Ballpark in Arlington, Texas — 2,646 days after he had last appeared in a major league game — the 35-year-old Bard relieved Gray in the fifth inning. Bard pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in Colorado’s 3-2 win over the Rangers. It was Bard’s first win since May 29, 2012 when he pitched 5 1/3 innings for the Boston Red Sox and beat Justin Verlander’s Detroit Tigers.
Bard admitted that the adrenaline was pumping through his veins but he proved he could handle the magnitude of the moment.
“This is what I was meant to do,” he said. “It’s the same thing with the physical effects going on. Your heart rate is up and the adrenaline’s pumping. But you can adjust your perspective on what’s going on, and that makes that feeling either a really positive thing, where it helps you, or a really negative thing, where it crushes you.
“That wasn’t something I learned overnight. It’s taken practice and it’s taken a lot of
intentional work on my part.”
Bard, who suffered through a confounding case of the yips that seemingly ruined his career, had not pitched in a major-league game since April 27, 2013 with Boston. Saturday, show no signs of stage fright, he unleashed a sharp slider and a 99 mph fastball to get Elvis Andrus to pop out to left to end the fifth inning.
Manager Bud Black sent Bard back out for the sixth, and although Bard he gave up singles to Joey Gallo and Todd Frazier, Bard hung tough, getting Willie Calhoun to fly out to left and securing Colorado’s 2-1 lead.
“I got Daniel near the end of the dugout and he said three words: ‘That was fun,’ ” manager Black said.
That’s exactly that attitude that enabled Bard to rediscover himself as a pitcher and turn his comeback dream into reality.
“These games are important, but also at the end of the day you’re still playing a game,” Bard said. “And I think the guys who are able to take that mindset into each and every day, despite the pressure, despite the industry, despite the amount of money that can be made in this game, you still go out and just play the game every day. … It took me a while to fully grasp that, I think.”
Bard, who signed with the Rockies before spring training after trying out for scouts in Scottsdale, Ariz., is more than just a feel-good story. He’s showing signs that he can be a viable part of Colorado’s rebuilt bullpen. Saturday, he threw 20 of his 25 pitches for strikes and unleashed a well-located fastball that ranged between 95-99 mph. He also threw some wicked sliders.
“I think he’s going to be a big part of the staff here,” Black said. “You saw some fastballs with some life and a couple of good, sharp breaking balls. Today was a great start and I’m happy for him. I mean, what a great story.”
Colorado’s first victory of the season required scary, high-wire acts by late-game relievers Carlos Estevez, Jairo Diaz and Wade Davis.
The Rangers jammed the bases in the seventh, but Estevez struck out Danny Santana with a nasty slider and induced Joey Gallo to fly out to right to end the threat.
Rougned Odor opened the Rangers’ eighth with a bunt single to third to beat the shift, and then Diaz plunked Todd Frazier to create a mini-crisis. It got worse when Diaz unleashed a wild pitch to put Odor and Frazier in scoring position with no outs. But Diaz struck out Willie Calhoun and Ronald Guzman and got Jose Trevino to line out to David Dahl in center.
Davis, trying to rebound from his disastrous 2019 season, gave up a run in the ninth on a walk and a cheap hit to third and an RBI single by Gallo, but held on for the save. Davis struck out Odor looking to end the game.
Colorado’s offense, still quiet in the early part of the season, eeked out two runs in the fourth, using a walk by Nolan Arenado, two Texas errors and an RBI bloop single down the right-field line by designated hitter Matt Kemp. As it turned out, it was enough.
Gray came out strong, throwing four scoreless innings and showing a nasty slider for three strikeouts. But he faltered in the fifth, giving up a run on two singles and a walk. He departed with two outs, setting the stage for Bard to quell the Rangers’ rally.
Colorado extended its lead to 3-1 in the seventh on an RBI single by Dahl, who drove in Garrett Hampson. Hampson led off with a ground-rule double.
Hampson also made a spectacular, leaping catch at the left-field wall to rob Shin-Soo Choo of a home run in the first inning.
On Deck
Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (3-11, 6.73 ERA in 2019) at Rangers RHP Corey Kluber (2-3, 5.80)
12:30 p.m. Sunday, Globe Life Field
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM
Kluber, the former Indians ace, is pitching for the first time since May 1, 2019, when he fractured his forearm when he was hit by a line drive in a game against the Marlins. A strained oblique muscle last August ruined any chance of him pitching for the Indians in the postseason. He had mechanical issues early last season but he has an impressive resume. He won 20 games in 2018 and is a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner. Freeland, looking to bounce back from a difficult 2019 season, has been a solid pitcher on the road during his career, going 13-15 with 3.96 ERA.
Trending: Rockies center fielder David Dahl extended his hitting streak to 12 games, dating back to July 24, 2019, with a run-scoring single in the seventh inning Saturday. He’s batting .340 with two home runs and six RBIs over that stretch.
At issue: Though closer Wade Davis notched the save Saturday, he needed 28 pitches (15 strikes) to get through the inning. The veteran needs to get ahead of hitters more often if he’s going to be effective going forward.
Pitching probables
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (11-6.71) at A’s RHP Daniel Mengden (5-2, 4.83), 7:40 p.m., ATTRM
Wednesday: Rockies TBD at A’s RHP Frankie Montas (0-0, 2.25 in 2020), 1:40 p.m., ATTRM
Thursday: Off
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