"All game, every game I’m itching to contribute in whatever way," Tyler Callihan told teammates during batting practice — and on Tuesday night the utility player answered that promise by pitching a scoreless ninth inning for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 12-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Manager Don Kelly asked if he was ready; Callihan warmed up in the batting cage and went out to the mound for his first big-league inning.
Callihan worked 15 pitches, all thrown as fastballs, and finished the frame allowing one hit and one walk without surrendering a run. Only six of his 15 pitches were strikes, and Baseball Savant registered some of the offerings as curveballs and sliders because the average velocity measured 70.9 mph. Callihan got Andy Pages on a groundout to third on the second pitch, Miguel Rojas took a five-pitch walk on deliveries ranging from 64.7 to 69.5 mph, and he fell behind 3-0 to Mookie Betts before getting two called strikes and a 362-foot fly out to center. "So I knocked that one out early," Callihan said afterward.
His mound turn was an extension of a career built around versatility. Callihan was committed to South Carolina as a two-way player when the Cincinnati Reds drafted him in the third round in 2019. Over seven minor-league seasons he has played first, second and third base and both corner outfield spots; he calls himself an emergency catcher because he caught in high school. The Pirates acquired Callihan from the Reds on March 4 in exchange for reliever Kyle Nicolas, and he was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 28.
The inning came at Truist Park — the same ballpark where, 13 months earlier and in his fourth game with the Reds, Callihan crashed glove-first into the padded left-field corner trying to catch a Matt Olson foul and broke both bones in his left forearm. The injury required three surgeries, including one to repair cartilage and ligament damage in his wrist; he still carries a long scar on both sides of his forearm. He said he began the inning "just trying to lob it, but realized I couldn’t throw strikes like that so I had to put more on it," and that his thought process was, "I’m not going to hit him, but I want to throw it over the plate." He later added, "It’s interesting. Obviously, I’d rather be on the flip side of the score at the end of the night, but that was fun."
The context for the unusual decision was blunt: the Dodgers scored 10 runs in the seventh inning, and Wilber Dotel, Brandan Bidois and Dennis Santana combined for 96 pitches across the seventh and eighth, leaving the Pirates with few conventional bullpen options. Callihan pitched in a game already decided — a lopsided loss — precisely the situation in which teams sometimes turn to position players to save relievers. Callihan said he looks to help "in whatever way they ask of me," which is exactly what he did.
What remains unclear is whether Tuesday night was a one-off novelty or the start of a new, occasional role. Callihan increased his velocity into the mid-70s during the inning and showed enough command to retire the Dodgers without damage, but whether the Pirates will ever summon him to the mound again — in a blowout or otherwise — is the single most consequential unanswered question from his first major-league pitching outing.
