Cam Sanders was still riding the “roller coaster of emotions” after making his major league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates when he joked that he finally got the feeling back in his legs after the game.

As the son of seven-year veteran pitcher Scott Sanders, Cam grew up in big league clubhouses thinking, “Dang. This is something I want to do.” Now, the 28-year-old right-handed reliever stood in the home clubhouse at PNC Park after pitching a pair of scoreless innings in an 8-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

That Sanders recorded the first strikeouts of his MLB career in the process was a bonus.

“It was awesome,” Sanders said. “I mean it was crazy. I wasn’t even really thinking about trying to get a punchout. I was just thinking, ‘Get the ball over the plate. Make some action happen. Make something happen.’ It’s a great feeling, man. Can’t really explain it. It’s just a part of the game. Many more to come, hopefully.”

Sanders faced the bottom of the order in the eighth, but the first two batters had done some damage. So Sanders trusted what got him from Double-A Altoona to the Pirates in the span of a few months: Throw it over the plate and just let God take care of the rest.

Patrick Bailey hit a two-run single in his previous at-bat but hit a fly ball to right for the first out. Then Sanders got called strikes on an 87.9-mph cutter and a 98-mph fastball against Christian Koss, who had hit a two-run home run in the third inning. The third pitch was a cutter in the dirt that Koss chased. After Heliot Ramos drew a full-count walk, Sanders got All-Star Rafael Devers to go down swinging at a full-count fastball low and inside for another strikeout to end the eighth.

“The adrenaline was there, but I was able to just slow my mind down and just remind myself that it’s the same game,” Sanders said. “I’m here to compete. I’m not here to make it about myself. I’m here to throw the ball over the dish and let the defense make a play. I wouldn’t say it was too hard to get the heart rate down. Once I got to three balls, that’s when the heart rate got up a little bit. But other than that, it’s just the same old game.”

The Pirates sent Sanders back out to the mound for the ninth. Willy Adames hit a leadoff single, but Sanders induced Matt Chapman to hit a pop fly in foul territory to third base, Dominic Smith to line out to left and Jerar Encarnacion to line out to short to end the frame.

“Anybody who makes their debut, you’re not going to forget that night. He did a great job for us, coming in and finishing those last two innings,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “A different look and a different arm slot, but the stuff is electric when he’s pairing the 98 fastball with the slider, and the changeup looks really good, too. Big day for him. Got a few punchouts and did really well. He did exactly what we needed him to do there, going two innings and finishing the game.”

Afterward, Sanders was still finding the moment to be surreal. But he was quick to crack a joke when asked what he would do with the game ball from his first career strikeout as a major leaguer.

“Probably going to frame it,” Sanders said. “I might just take it everywhere I go with me until I reach another milestone, and then I can stack that one and take the other one with me. No big plans for it. Just look at it, I guess. That’s all I can do with it now.”

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