br, I agree with your main point, that it wasn't like 5th inning was some dramatic reversal from the previous four. It was perhaps an amplification. It's not like he was real sharp or in control or dominating anybody through the first 4. Didn't he have a perfect game maybe through the 2nd, but was still at like 35 pitches or more? When you're using up 6 pitches per batter, it's not like you're really dominating anybody. He had a few fastballs that missed badly during innings 1-4, and some balls hit pretty hard, (the great Almora catch that saved at least a run), and some seemingly whackable straight-looking pitches that got fouled off that looked like they could have maybe gotten pounded.
The 5th was just worse. The control got worse, walking #7 mostly not close on 4 pitches, and then walking the pitcher, most of them not even close to the zone. Some of the same whackable-looking pitches that they had taken or fouled off earlier, they whacked fair and got RISP.
He just didn't look like he had any resources to work with. deeg often talks about the 7 pitches and all that, but in the fifth he looked like he had zero pitches that he could control or throw for strikes, other than an occasional straight fastball, and that without location, and that only sometimes (not versus #7 or the pitcher.)
I'm hopeful that he'll pitch some better games in due time. When he pitches about 60 degrees, and pitches outside of denver too, maybe we'll see a guy who can pitch well sometimes.