Adam Ottavino at “90 percent,” Ready for Late-Inning Pressure

Colorado Rockies manager Walt Weiss has said that’s he’s methodically gearing Adam Ottavino up to work in higher-leverage situations. Weiss held true to his word on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays.

With the Rockies clinging to a 5-4 lead after the visiting Rays had reeled off three straight hits to chase starter Tyler Anderson out of the game in the top of the seventh, Ottavino was brought out of the bullpen with the tying run on second and one out.

After initially struggling to find the zone against Logan Forsythe and Nick Franklin stealing third base, Ottavino settled down to strand Franklin at third by striking out Forsythe and getting Kevin Kiermaier to ground out harmlessly to second.

“I fell behind on the first guy, which I’ve been doing a lot, and I wasn’t very happy with that. I let a guy steal third but I think I threw pretty much all strikes after that,” Ottavino said. “I just took a deep breath. I knew everything was there because I felt good in the pen. I just tried to make pitches after that.”

As happy as Ottavino was with getting out of the inning, he was equally frustrated in allowing Forsythe to advance to third with the steal.

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“Any extra base is huge. A base hit there ties the game. I haven’t let a guy steal third in a long time so I was disappointed in myself,” Ottavino said. “I thought I was OK tonight, but I threw a terrible pitch for Hundo (Nick Hundley) to throw on. It was a bad combination.”

What hasn’t been a bad combination has been how Ottavino has slowly entered back into Colorado’s late-inning plan. In his first snippets of action since undergoing Tommy John surgery, the right-hander has allowed just one hit over five appearances spanning three innings.

Weiss said he’s been trying to find the right spots for Ottavino to enter the game, including Monday night’s tough assignment.

“I’ve been trying to use him for partial innings, particularly trying to match him up against tougher right-handed hitters but as we saw last night, he can get lefties out too,” Weiss said. “He’s been away for a long time so we’re trying to pick the right spots for him.”

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And how does Ottavino look to Weiss after being gone for more than a year?

“He’s getting there,” Weiss said. “That next step, which is usually the final step, is the command. We’ll start to see the velocity creep back up and he has the good slider still. Maybe not the same command of it as he had before but it’s not going to take long. He’s working real hard and he’s in a good place mentally. He’s ready to take on some more higher-leverage situations.”

For Ottavino, Monday night’s action was another in a long line of steps for him in his return from surgery.

“It was the most significant two outs I’ve gotten,” Ottavino said. “It kept Andy (Tyler Anderson) in line for the win after he did a good job and we were able to hang in there and get the win. It was the most significant but I’ve felt pretty good in most of the games I’ve pitched. It’s a continuation. Still knocking some of the rust off. It felt good.”

Adam Ottavino says there is still work to be done for him to be back to full strength, but he also believes he isn’t far from that.

“Probably 90 percent,” Ottavino said when asked where he was in comparison to last year. “My stuff, I feel like, is just as good as ever. I’ve been behind on the count more than I’m used to being. To me, that’s the biggest thing … stop being behind the count.

“It’s just about getting into top form. I had a game before the break where I felt pretty much like myself then we went on the break and I got rusty again. That’s the first time I went a few days without throwing for the first time in I can’t remember when because of my rehab. That was kind of weird. I didn’t throw very good in Atlanta but I knew I’d throw better tonight.”

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And does he believe he’s earned the confidence of the Rockies in late-inning, pressure-packed situations?

“I hope so. I’m going to pitch hard either way so hopefully they trust me with the game on the line,” Ottavino said. “They said they would. Tonight was a good night to do that.”