Pitching to Yankees' power hitters in 9th inning 'scary' for Pirates infielder Josh VanMeter

Josh VanMeter understood the assignment, even if the idea of a position player pitching to a New York Yankees lineup loaded with power hitters made him uncomfortable.

With the Pittsburgh Pirates trailing the Yankees by double digits in the ninth inning, the starting second baseman took the mound and threw what amounted to batting practice to the best team in baseball in a 16-0 loss Wednesday night at PNC Park.

“It sucks,” VanMeter said at his locker stall in the Pirates clubhouse. “You never want to be in that position.”

After serving up a grand slam to Aaron Hicks, the next batter VanMeter had to face was slugger Giancarlo Stanton. In his 2017 NL MVP season, Stanton hit 57 homers. He has six seasons with 30-plus homers and is well on his way to a seventh.

“It was kind of scary,” VanMeter said. “When Stanton stepped in the box, I didn’t feel real comfortable out there. But you just try to throw strikes. It feels like any one of those guys could hit a homer at any point.”

Stanton smacked his second pitch 385 feet to right field for his 21st homer this season. VanMeter gave up six runs on eight hits and one walk. He threw 18 of his 27 pitches for strikes, which was the plan.

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“You just want to go out there and throw strikes, really,” VanMeter said. “You’re not trying to punch anybody out or anything. You’re just trying to throw strikes and I did that.

“You just go out there and throw strikes and whatever happens happens, really. You’re not out there competing. You’re just trying to save some pitchers’ arms and pick them up. They pick us up as hitters over the course of a year. It’s just a part of the game.”

If it looked more like a circus, the Pirates blamed their brutal schedule and a shortage of pitchers. They are in the midst of a stretch of 14 games in 13 days, including a split doubleheader at Cincinnati on Thursday following a three-hour, 21-minute game against the Yankees that didn’t end until 11:35 p.m. because of a 69-minute rain delay before first pitch.

It was the fifth time this season the Pirates turned to a position player to pitch, and the third time they used VanMeter in that role. VanMeter said Shelton made “the right move” by having him pitch, as the rules allow him to do so to preserve a reliever for the doubleheader at the Reds.

“I think one of the things when you have a roster limit on pitchers it causes a little bit of a challenge,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, referring to the MLB rule that permits 13 pitchers on the 26-man roster that went into effect on June 20. “And the other thing for us right now, we have 12 games in (the next) 11 days, and we got a doubleheader (Thursday). So when the game gets out of hand, we’re trying to preserve pitching to try to win (Thursday’s) games.”

Shelton blamed the circumstances on the Pirates giving up four home runs over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings for a 10-0 lead, including a grand slam to Aaron Judge.

“It really didn’t change the outcome of the game. It made it longer, in terms of doing that,” Shelton said. “We have to execute pitches before that because if that game stays a six-run game, we’re not doing that. But we didn’t keep the game in check in the seventh and eighth and that’s what leads to what happens in the ninth.”