Although he hasn’t been in the Majors for very long, rookie pitcher Antonio Senzatela is proving to be a key player in the Colorado Rockies’ starting rotation. After a strong showing in Milwaukee just a week before, he earned the first win of his career in a 3-2 showing over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

“I feel really good,” Senzatela said. “This is my first win in the big leagues, that’s awesome.”

Senzatela, a 22-year-old native of Valencia, Venezuela, got off to a rough start in his second-ever regular season start when San Diego center fielder Manuel Margot, the Padres’ first batter, drove the ball over the wall. After that, the Padres didn’t have any more action on the basepaths until five innings later.

“I started the game with a home run and said, ‘ckay, that’s one run,’and ended up throwing seven innings,” Senzatela said. “After that I felt like okay, my fastball’s good.”

Throughout the entire game, Senzatela maintained great control of his fastball, which played a key role in his 94-pitch performance. He ended the night with 64 strikes, five strikeouts, one walk, five hits and two earned runs. That’s not half-bad for a pitcher in his freshman season at a park like Coors Field.

Manager Bud Black said that even after a bad start, he didn’t doubt that Senzatela could turn the ship around, keep calm in the face of adversity and shut the Friars down from there on out.

“We’ve seen that from him through spring training, and that’s been the word from our player development staff,” Black said. “He’s got a good heartbeat, his pulse is good, competes. We’re not worried about what happens in between the lines for the most part, as far as the emotions. He gets that part. Now there are some things we need to clean up on the form on the pitching side, continue to work on a few things. But he’s focused and he’s always in a pretty good space as far as game awareness.”

As far as what he’ll do with the game ball from Tuesday night, Senzatela said he’ll keep it in the family.

“I’m going to give it to my mom,” he said.

Last year, Senzatela lost his mother to cancer, so he’ll put the ball in her tomb back in Venezuela.

The Rockies (6-3) and Padres (4-5) will spar to see who takes the series on Wednesday, April 12, at 1:10.