DENVER — Rockies pitcher Michael Lorenzen won’t claim to have figured out the riddle of Coors Field. Even if he had, he’ll play it close to the vest; he won’t give away all of his secrets.

But after his rough initial home outing in the Rockies’ home opener last Friday — which lasted just three innings and went awry from the jump as Philadelphia piled seven runs before Colorado came to bat in front of a sellout throng — he got exactly what he wanted from his second start in a Rockies uniform at 20th and Blake: a 9-1 win that came just one out shy of the team’s third quality start in its current four-game winning streak.

“You have an outing like that, there’s no panic, but there’s a sense of urgency to make changes and to get better and to adjust — and you have to have the ability to understand the information to know what you did wrong,” Lorenzen said after delivering 5 2/3 innings of 1-run ball in Wednesday’s Rockies rout of the Astros.

“So, that comes with experience. But it’s a big deal for us and I think with the young guys here, it’s always been hard to pitch here and it’s going to be hard to pitch here. You’re going to have bad outings, but you got to bounce back and you are capable of bouncing back and making those adjustments.”

Some of that involved attacking the Astros with his curveball. He worked his slider more; after the game, he attributed that to facing Houston’s right-handed-heavy lineup.

But he also focused on data. The Rockies had developed a reputation within MLB for being behind the curve when it came to analytics — and in particular, how they handled pitching, all the way through the system. The moment Paul DePodesta took the reins as president of baseball operations, the old ways were tossed into a fire pit.

Success will be measured over the long haul with the broad sample size, of course, But you’ll see signs along the way. And Wednesday for Lorenzen was one example.

“We have some smart people here on the coaching staff,” Lorenzen said. “And so we all put our heads together and tried to figure that out. And I think we have a lot of good data from today that we can build off of.

“So, it’s not quite there completely, but it’s definitely like a good, good start, and something that we can build off of. And like I said, with all the data and the tech nowadays today was great to be able to get, so, we can just get some more feedback and continue to improve.”

But this isn’t just about a blizzard of numbers and how they manifest on the mound.

LORENZEN PART OF ROCKIES’ PITCHING PLAN: LEAN ON SEASONED VETS

There was a method to the Rockies’ offseason additions of Lorenzen, José Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano: All are veterans in their mid-30s cut from similar mental timber. They compartmentalize well. Sugano has just one major-league season to his name, but he arrived in North America after 12 mostly-splendid seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in his native Japan. At the age of 36, he’s seen it all; it just happens that he saw it in the globe’s second-best circuit.

But there’s something else to their experience, too: The wisdom they offer younger pitchers, some of whom are in the bullpen now, and others with whom they worked in spring training and will arrive soon.

Take Zach Agnos, the Rockies’ fireballing reliever who had four saves last year but allowed five earned runs in his first three appearances this season — including three in the seventh inning last week at Toronto when the Rockies trailed, 2-1.

All you had to do was look at one stat — average on balls in play, or BABIP — to know that Agnos’ form would normalize. A typical BABIP is around .300; Agnos’ figure heading into Wednesday was .688.

“His outings haven’t been bad, it’s just been his — be a nerd in the BABIP — batting average on balls in play’s gotta be through the roof with him,” Lorenzen said. “He hasn’t been giving up a ton of hard contact and I feel a little bit similar to where there’s a lot of hits through the infield and base hits and then there’s the double that gets you eventually, but he’s done an incredible job.”

So, when Lorenzen left Wednesday in the sixth inning with two outs and the bases loaded, Agnos stepped into action. And here’s where Lorenzen’s counsel and big-picture reminders to Agnos came in handy.

Agnos got out of the inning, then finished out the final three innings for his first save of the season.

“He’s throwing the ball really well, and for him to come in that big situation and just attack the zone the way he did, that was huge,” Lorenzen said.

“And I owe him a steak, for sure.”

To that, Agnos smiled.

“That guy owes me nothing. He’s helped me more than he knows,” Agnos said. “After my outing in Toronto, he was like, ‘Hey, that really didn’t go your way — a couple of unlucky hits. Obviously, I was upset with the outing.

“And he talked to me, just had a conversation. And he said, ‘The fact that you’re still pounding the strike zone and all that stuff shows that you have a lot of resiliency and that you don’t really care.’ He’s been great. We have great vets — from top to bottom.”

The Rockies still have “a lot of work” in front of them, as Lorenzen acknowledged Wednesday. Their 4-2 homestand and a sweep of the Astros are promising steps, but the true meaning will unfold over time.

But when you see Lorenzen improve from one home start to the next, and witness the manifestation of his veteran counsel helping a promising young player, you understand the vision, and you see an intentionality to building that was lacking in recent years.