Chase Dollander's stellar relief work guides Rockies past Astros

Chase Dollander recorded a career-high nine strikeouts out of the bullpen while Hunter Goodman hit his third home run of the series as the visiting Colorado Rockies salvaged the finale of a three-game interleague set against the Houston Astros with a 3-2 win on Thursday.

Dollander (2-1) allowed one hit and walked two batters while working 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He averaged 99.4 mph on 29 four-seam fastballs and 98.8 mph on 19 sinkers.

Victor Vodnik pitched a hitless ninth inning for his second save.

The right-hander logged at least four innings of relief for the fourth time this season, joining Bruce Ruffin in 1993 as the only pitchers in franchise history with that distinction. He entered with two outs in the bottom of the first inning after opener Juan Mejia surrendered two runs on three hits.

Dollander was exceptional from the onset. He induced Cam Smith to roll into an inning-ending groundout with runners on the corners in the first, and he recorded a called third strike on Jose Altuve to end the second after Yainer Diaz hit into a double play that erased Taylor Trammell.

The Altuve at-bat was the first of five consecutive strikeouts for Dollander, who surrendered a one-out single to Joey Loperfido in the fourth only to retire the subsequent five batters on order. He fanned Diaz and Altuve in succession in the fifth, and when he ran into a spot of trouble in the sixth, he responded with strikeouts of Smith and Loperfido to strand two runners in scoring position.

Yordan Alvarez and Loperfido spotted Houston a 2-0 lead with RBI singles in the first. The Rockies sliced that deficit in half in the third when Astros starter Ryan Weiss walked the bases loaded to open the frame before Tyler Freeman grounded into a double play that scored Kyle Karros.

Goodman led off the fourth with his fourth homer of the season, a game-tying shot to left-center.

Freeman pushed the Rockies ahead to stay with his RBI single off Christian Roa (0-1) in the fifth, plating Brenton Doyle.

The Astros stranded runners in scoring position in the first, fourth and sixth innings before Carlos Correa lined out to first with the bases loaded to end the seventh.

--Field Level Media