One of Gordon’s key pitches against the Royals was his changeup, which was effective early on but was also the pitch that struck out Kansas City twice.

“Having my changeup in my back pocket and being able to throw it for a strike or a swing and miss when I need to has been really great,” Gordon said. “In college, that was my main pitch. But as my professional career has gone on, I think I’ve been able to use it a lot more. And I think it’s gotten better and better as the years have gone on.

“I notice on some outings that I’m not throwing as well, I see that I’m not using my changeup. If I use my changeup there and I can get hitters off the fastball, I think it definitely helps.”

With Gordon set to start against the Mets on Friday, I asked him what he took away from his first MLB start (in which he allowed eight hits and five runs in 6.1 innings) that he plans to use at Citi Field.

“What I have to take away from that first start is how I struck,” Gordon offered. “I threw a lot of strikes (79.5 percent of his 78 pitches I threw for strikes, the highest percentage by a Rockies pitcher this season). Maybe some of the strikes were a little too good strikes in certain counts, which allowed guys to get hits. But the main goal is to attack as much as possible and throw good strikes in good counts.”

Gordon also told me about his approach to starts and how he wanted to make sure he could adjust his attack based on how the game was going.