For the third time in the last four games, a San Diego Padres spring training game was decided by one run. Unfortunately for the Padres, it was the Colorado Rockies who were at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning and it was Zac Veen who hit a one-out solo home run to center field just to the right of the batter’s eye to give the Rockies a 3-2 victory at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Friday.
San Diego took the lead early in the game when Manny Machado got his seventh RBI in games with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right center field to give the Padres a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. San Diego scored its second run of the game in the top of the eighth inning when Samad Taylor hit a two-out single through the left side of the infield that scored Tirso Ornelas to tie the game, 2-2.
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Veen hit his game-winning home run when Padres reliever Sean Boyle left an 89.1 mph fastball over the plate on a 1-0 count. Veen made his trip around the bases to the delight of his teammates and the home crowd, and Boyle and his teammates left the field and returned to Peoria, Arizona.
Jake Cronenworth, Ramón Laureano and Sung-Mun Song were the only San Diego starters to record a hit against Colorado pitchers. Taylor had the only other hit for the Padres in the game with his eight-inning RBI single.
Randy Vasquez started on the mound for San Diego and turned in another solid outing. He finished 2.2 innings and did not allow a hit. Vasquez walked but also recorded four strikeouts.
The Padres return to the Peoria Sports Complex to face the Seattle Mariners on Saturday at 12:10 pm. San Diego opened Cactus League play against Seattle on February 20 the last time the teams met, and the Padres suffered a 7-4 loss.