Whenever a place participant has pitched with James McCann behind the plate, he offers the identical piece of recommendation. He adopted it when he took a serious league mound himself for the primary time.
Pitching the underside of the eighth inning Tuesday night time within the Orioles’ 10-3 loss to the San Diego Padres, the 10-year veteran did what he’s informed different place gamers who’ve pitched to him: “Throw it slow as you can for strikes.” In a scoreless inning, solely certainly one of McCann’s 14 pitches exceeded 50 mph, and 9 of them had been within the zone or put in play.
“I think I threw harder in the cage warming up than I did on the field,” McCann stated. “There’s no such thing as throwing it above hitting speed, but there’s something to throwing below hitting speed. If you’re just kind of out there playing catch, well then it’s like batting practice. I’m a big believer in position players, just see how slow you can throw it and let your defense make some plays.”
With the Orioles shedding 10-1 on the time after starter Jack Flaherty lasted solely three innings, supervisor Brandon Hyde requested McCann to spare a taxed bullpen one other body. He induced three groundouts round a single and double, stranding two in scoring place.
McCann, 33, stated he’s by no means dreamed of pitching within the large leagues however that the expertise was “definitely a memory that I’ll have forever,” saying his younger sons, Christian and Kane, had “big smiles” when he FaceTimed them Wednesday.
“I obviously wish we weren’t in that situation, but understand the situation, understand we’ve got to save our bullpen, go out there and try and make them hit it right at guys,” McCann stated. “It’s one of those things that no one wants to do it, but you understand in the moment the importance of it for today, for the next few days just to save our bullpen.”
McCann was the third Orioles place participant to pitch this season, becoming a member of outfielder Ryan McKenna — whom he caught — and infielder Josh Lester. Hyde, who described McCann’s outing as “the best part of the game,” has used 11 place gamers as pitchers in his 5 seasons with Baltimore. In 2019, utility participant Stevie Wilkerson notably grew to become the primary pitching place participant in MLB historical past to earn a save in a 16-inning victory in opposition to the Los Angeles Angels; Wilkerson, who equally to McCann lobbed the ball throughout his 5 profession pitching appearances for Baltimore, garnered the nickname “Dr. Poo Poo” after referring his pitches as such.
McCann couldn’t recall what batterymate Adley Rutschman stated to him after the inning however stated second baseman Adam Frazier joked with him about his skill to “navigate the top of the lineup.” He’s caught a number of Cy Young Award-winning pitchers in his profession, and now, he has a decrease ERA than all of them.
“For the time being,” McCann stated, “I guess I got some bragging rights.”
Around the horn
- Outfielder Aaron Hicks’ sore again stored him out of the Orioles’ lineup for a second straight sport, with Hyde not sure earlier than the sport whether or not he could be accessible to play.
- The Orioles will preserve their six-man rotation on flip for his or her upcoming collection at Oakland, beginning Kyle Gibson, Cole Irvin and Kyle Bradish.
- Hyde stated the Orioles didn’t really feel a have to make a roster transfer so as to add a reliever for Wednesday’s sport due to Thursday’s time off.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com