Carlos Estevez jogged out of the bullpen late Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field. Truthfully, he felt like sprinting, so eager was he to face the Yankees.

Rock music blared as he took the mound in the ninth inning: “Wild Thing! You make my heart sing! Wild Thing! You make everything, groovy!”

With his fastball blazing up to 100 mph, his slider slicing the corner of the plate at 88 and a 90 mph changeup keeping batters honest, Estevez coaxed groundball outs from Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks and Brian McCann to preserve the Rockies’ 6-3 victory and earn his third consecutive save.

“They gave me the job and showed me confidence. That’s all I needed,” Estevez said, flashing an easy, warm smile that contradicts his attacking style. “Right now, my confidence is 100 percent.”

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander is one of several fireballers in the Rockies’ system, but he has moved to the front of the pack. He took over the closer role a week ago after left-hander Jake McGee blew a three-run lead in a 7-5 loss to San Diego and then landed on the 15-day disabled list because of a sprained left knee.

Estevez, 23, is 24 games into his big-league career. He’s had some poor games. For example, the Dodgers’ Trayce Thompson smashed Estevez’s 97 mph, 0-1 fastball into the left-field seats for a 4-3 walk-off win June 7 at Dodger Stadium.

Estevez’s 1-3 record and 4.03 ERA are hardly spectacular, but the Rockies love his raw talent and his demeanor. The night after giving up the homer to Thompson, Estevez struck out three Dodgers in the eighth inning of Colorado’s 1-0 victory. Colorado Rockies MLB scoreboard

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“He’s very poised for a young kid,” manager Walt Weiss said. “We knew he was talented during spring training, but to be honest, I didn’t think he would be this impactful this early.”

Estevez understands that he can’t thrive in the big leagues relying solely on his four-seam fastball.

“The hitters know that I’m going to throw my fastball,” he said. “So on days when maybe I’m a little bit tired or I’m missing location, if I throw just my fastball, I’m going to get hit.

“So using my other pitches, I can keep them off balance, I can play with their heads. That’s the game of pitching.”

Said Weiss: “He’s got three quality pitches, and that makes it tough when he’s throwing upper 90s. He’s got multiple weapons, not just a great fastball.” Rockies Baseball var head = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0];

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Estevez, from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, rode a fast track to the majors, pitching for both Single-A Modesto (Calif.) and Double-A New Britain (Conn.) last year. He made five appearances with Triple-A Albuquerque this spring before getting called up by the Rockies and making his major-league debut April 23. Now he is rockin’ as a closer.

“Wild Thing,” the 1966 hit song by the British band The Troggs, got a second life in the 1989 movie “Major League.” Charlie Sheen played hard-throwing, controlled-challenged reliever Ricky Vaughn, who was nicknamed “Wild Thing” and entered games with his theme song blaring.

So why has the Rockies’ Estevez embraced the song? After all, he hasn’t thrown a single wild pitch in his big-league career. And while it’s true that his ratio of four walks per nine innings needs to improve, his control hasn’t been a big issue.

But, in case you didn’t know, Sheen was born Carlos Estevez. His father’s name was Ramon Estevez, but he is better known as the acclaimed actor Martin Sheen.

When the Rockies were in Los Angeles, the Rockies’ Estevez was able to meet the original “Wild Thing” and even snap a few photos.

“Yeah! I meet the real #wildthing last night an(d) it was amazing!!” the pitcher wrote on Instagram. “Crazy we have the exactly same name!”

Estevez says he likes being a relief pitcher. He loves being a closer.

“Honestly, being a closer is the best job I could have,” he said.

Estevez file



Age: 23

Size: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds

From: Santo Dominigo, Dominican Republic

Stats: 1-3, 4.03 ERA (24 appearances), three saves, two blown saves

*Pitches:

Four-seam fastball (96.8 mph), used 72.8 percent

Slider (84.6 mph), used 20.4 percent

Changeup (88.4 mph), used 6.8 percent

*According to FanGraphs



Looking ahead …

Rockies RHP Jon Gray (4-2, 4.70 ERA) at Marlins LHP Adam Conley (3-4, 4.13), 5:10 p.m. Friday, ROOT, 850 AM.



For baseball purists, it looked like a dream game. The Rockies would match Gray, their hot young pitcher, against Miami ace Jose Fernandez. But as part of a plan to ensure that Fernandez stays healthy, the Marlins skipped his Friday start. Miami wants to limit Fernandez, in his first full season since Tommy John surgery, to roughly 180 innings. So the Rockies will now face Conley, who allowed five runs on 11 hits and one walk in five innings during Sunday’s loss to Arizona. Gray has been terrific since a bad outing in St. Louis on May 19, going 3-0 with a 2.30 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched).

Saturday: Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (8-4, 2.89 ERA) at Marlins LHP Wei-Yin Chen (4-2, 4.68), 2:10 p.m., ROOT

Sunday: Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (0-0, 1.42) at Marlins RHP Tom Koehler (5-6, 4.25), 11:10 a.m., ROOT

Monday: Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa (3-4, 7.61) at Marlins LHP Justin Nicolino (2-4, 5.17), 5:10 p.m.

