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.
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).