Veen confidently dashes home on wild pitch that barely gets away from catcher

SAN FRANCISCO -- It takes a leap of confidence to charge toward home plate on a wild pitch that barely bounces away from the catcher.

Enter Zac Veen, who has confidence to spare.

Since being called back up by the Rockies on Tuesday in Arizona, he’s been a jolt of energy in the middle of their lineup. On Friday, he became the fourth Rockie to register a Splash Hit at Oracle Park, but his skillset isn’t limited to hitting.

Amid a back-and-forth battle in Sunday’s 13-7 win against the Giants, Veen’s mad dash from third base on a wild pitch from reliever JT Brubaker plated the first of four runs in a sixth-inning rally … but it wasn’t your typical wild pitch.

This one barely evaded catcher Drew Cavanaugh, spinning around mere inches from the plate as the catcher tried to locate it.

Amid the chaos, Veen had already taken off, blitzing toward the plate and easily scoring ahead of a tag attempt, emphatically sprinting back into the Rockies’ dugout.

“I had Veen in '22 in the [Arizona] Fall League, so I've seen that,” said manager Warren Schaeffer. “I've seen that many times. I've seen him walk and run directly to second base on a passed ball. He plays the game differently than other people, and having him and Cole Carrigg on the same team is pretty special. He plays without fear, that's what that is. That's playing without fear, taking chances, and we like that. Sometimes it's not going to go our way or his way, but that's how he plays, and I love it. I've always loved it.”

“I was reading a dirt ball the whole way, anticipating it,” said Veen, who was known to make bold moves on the basepaths in the Minors. “Third baseman was pretty far off because [Adael] Amador was up, so I knew I had a little bit more ground to gain. As soon as I saw it on the dirt, trying to get some momentum. And when I noticed he didn’t see it, I went for home.”

Veen’s heads-up play sparked a decisive sixth-inning burst that saw the Rockies seize control after an eventful first five.

Amador staked Colorado to a 4-1 lead with a three-run homer in the second -- on the first pitch of the first at-bat of his first start in the Majors this season.

“Huge in his first start, his first swing of the bat was a homer,” said Schaeffer. “Two walks … that's what he does. He's been playing really well in Triple-A, so we're just excited for him to be here and to join the group and be himself.”

The Giants reclaimed the lead on a three-run Rafael Devers homer in the bottom of the second, and they held a 7-6 lead heading into the sixth.

Colorado added on in the seventh when Brett Sullivan -- who caught every game this series with Hunter Goodman sidelined with left shoulder inflammation -- cracked a three-run shot to right field, just missing a Splash Hit of his own.

A native of nearby Stockton, Sullivan was riding the high postgame.

“Growing up as a kid, my family, we had season tickets here. I’ve seen [Barry] Bonds do it so many times, seen a bunch of other guys do it, and it's just such a beautiful ballpark and great place to play. It felt good, surreal.”

The Rockies finished the afternoon with a season-high-tying 10 walks and scoring at least 10 runs in a game at Oracle Park for just the fourth time -- and the first since 2016.

They also improved to 22-2 all-time when scoring at least seven runs in a game at Oracle.

With the victory, the Rockies finished off a series win in San Francisco for the first time since July 7-9, 2022. It also clinched a season series victory over San Francisco for the first time since 2020 (or 2018, in terms of non-shortened seasons).

They emerged at the other side of a season-long 11-day, nine-game road trip through St. Louis, Arizona and San Francisco 5-4, reaping the benefits of the offensive promise the club hopes to see play out for the remainder of this season and into the future.

As right-hander Gabriel Hughes put it after allowing seven earned runs in four-plus innings but still going back to Denver on a happy flight:

“The hitters picked me up big time. [It was] frustrating, but it was really cool to win a series and see how my team picked me up when I didn't have the best game.”