Velasquez uses his fastball to get back on track

In the five days between Vince Velasquez's postgame rant in Pittsburgh, where he described himself as "clueless," and the moment he stepped onto the Citizens Bank Park mound, the righthander did some thinking. His coaches offered some suggestions. The solution, they decided, was more mental than anything.

So Velasquez threw a bunch of fastballs Thursday afternoon.

"Sticking to my strengths," Velasquez said.

He fired five innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 win over Colorado. He corralled a Rockies lineup that bashed Phillies starters for 19 runs in 17 innings over the first three games of this series. That represented progress for a rotation that entered Thursday with a 6.39 ERA in May. One decent start will not fix Velasquez, who has a 5.55 ERA this season, but it provides some momentum.

"He looked like he took a step forward," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "We thought about running him back out there for another inning because we could have. He had enough pitches to go, but we wanted to take him out on a high note because he showed improvement, and we wanted to get his psyche in the right spot."

Velasquez leaned on his fastball; 72 of his 94 pitches were fastballs. He threw 70 of his 94 pitches for strikes. It was his 40th career start in the majors and the highest strike percentage he's ever reached.

His one mistake, though, was a strike when he did not need one. He started Colorado shortstop Trevor Story with a fastball and a slider to jump ahead, 0-2. Then Velasquez inexplicably threw Story a fat, belt-high fastball that landed in the blue seats beyond right-center.

He wanted the fastball higher.

It was the second home run Velasquez had allowed on an 0-2 count this season. The Phillies, as a team, have surrendered six such homers. That is the most in baseball.

The Rockies, a good-hitting team, worked deep counts. That prevented Velasquez from going deeper. He did not self-inflict pain with walks.

Velasquez said he had deviated too far from his strength.

"Pretty much," Velasquez said. "Just pretty much having second thoughts about certain pitches and, again, changing my game plan. If you shy away from that, things pretty much go away from you. That's where you get hurt. Today's mentality didn't change at all. I attacked guys with high fastballs in 0-2 counts."

Cameron Rupp tied a career high with three walks; he is tied for second on the team with 15 walks and has a .345 on-base percentage. . . . The Phillies activated righthander Jeanmar Gomez from the 10-day disabled list. He replaced Adam Morgan, who was optioned late Wednesday night to triple-A Lehigh Valley. . . . Cincinnati will visit this weekend for a three-game series. The Reds will start Bronson Arroyo, 40, on Saturday. Arroyo first pitched in Philadelphia in 2000 and faced a Phillies lineup that included Doug Glanville, Ron Gant, Bobby Abreu, Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal, Pat Burrell, Mickey Morandini, and Desi Relaford.