This Nats outfielder made his pitching debut

This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Nationals made four calls to the bullpen on Saturday for the second game of a doubleheader against the Pirates: Jordan Weems, Hobie Harris, Hunter Harvey and …

… Lane Thomas.

The 27-year-old outfielder made his Major League pitching debut in the ninth inning of the Nats’ 16-1 loss. In a pinch after the bullpen had been taxed throughout the day, manager Dave Martinez looked toward his position players for an assist.

Thomas turned back the clock nearly 10 years to the last time he was on the mound at Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tenn.

“I used to pitch quite a bit in high school,” Thomas recalled. “You throw relatively hard in school, they make you pitch.”

Thomas had Game 2 off and, after warming up, took the field with a fresh arm. Facing six batters, he gave up a Jason Delay single to second base, a Drew Maggi double to left field and a Miguel Andujar three-run homer to left before retiring Mark Mathias on a fly out to right field, Ji Hwan Bae on a ground out to first base and Jack Suwinski on a called strikeout.

“I think I did all you can do in one inning,” Thomas said. “I think I just didn’t walk anybody. That’s the only thing I didn’t do.”

Thomas, who admitted he was nervous at first, delivered 14 of his 21 pitches for strikes. He reached 89.3 mph with his fastball, which he threw for all but three curveballs.

“Really?” he said when told of his velocity. “It’s the adrenaline.”

Thomas added, “I was just trying to throw to the plate. [Catcher] Keibert [Ruiz] kept giving me like the ‘throw it slower’ [motion], but I was just like, ‘I don’t think I can throw it slow and throw a strike.’ So that’s where that came from.” (laughs)

Last season, Ehire Adrianza, Alcides Escobar, Dee Strange-Gordon and Ildemaro Vargas were position players who pitched for the Nats. Thomas is the first to do so this year.

“I’ve seen guys do it,” he said. “It’s definitely fun. It sucks that we’re in that situation, but make the best of it, maybe save a guy from having to go out there and throw an inning that doesn’t mean as much as the other ones.”