A fast start could not save the Houston Astros on Thursday night. Chase Dollander made sure of that.
Houston dropped the series finale to the Colorado Rockies 3-2 at Daikin Park, stranding 10 runners and striking out a season-high 13 times. The loss snapped what would have been a sweep, leaving the Astros with a series win but a bitter final note.
They struck quickly against opener Juan Mejia, making his first major league start. Jose Altuve led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an aggressive send from third-base coach Tony Perezchica after Yordan Alvarez fought a fastball into shallow left. Mejia hit Christian Walker on the hand two batters later, and Joey Loperfido flared a single to center that scored Alvarez and chased the opener after just two-thirds of an inning. Houston led 2-0.
Then Dollander took the mound and the Astros went quiet. The Rockies right-hander entered with two outs in the first and held Houston to one hit over 5⅓ innings, striking out nine and averaging 99.4 mph on his four-seamer. Astros hitters whiffed on 14 of 39 swings against him.
Ryan Weiss, making his first start after opening the season in a bullpen role, lost command in the third—walking the bases loaded on nine consecutive balls at one point—before limiting the damage to one run. He didn’t escape the fourth, allowing Hunter Goodman’s tying homer before being lifted after 76 pitches. It marked the fifth time in 11 games the Astros received fewer than four innings from a starter.
Colorado took the lead for good in the fifth on Tyler Freeman’s RBI single against Christian Roa. Brenton Doyle had singled, stolen second, and moved to third on a Julien flyout before Freeman drove him home. A Taylor Trammell-to-Carlos Correa relay throw then cut down Freeman trying to score on Goodman’s ensuing double, preventing further damage.
The Astros had chances. In the sixth, Isaac Paredes and Correa reached with nobody out against Dollander, but Walker grounded out and Dollander retired the next two on three pitches apiece. In the seventh, Altuve doubled and Alvarez was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Correa broke his bat on a soft liner to first to end the threat. Houston finished 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
The bullpen—Roa, AJ Blubaugh, and Kai-Wei Teng—kept the deficit at one run into the ninth, but Victor Vodnik closed it out, with Paredes’ flyball dying on the warning track to end the game. For the Rockies, the win snapped a six-game losing streak and saved them from being swept at Daikin Park.
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