Philadelphia Phillies lefty reliever Jake Diekman was impressive in his major league debut Tuesday, earning the win in Philadelphia's 4-3 extra-innings victory over the Houston Astros by striking out three of the four batters he faced.
But his first major league appearance wasn't at all what he expected.
"I really thought I was going to have a four- or five-run lead, or something like that," Diekman said.
Instead, he entered a tie game in the ninth inning with two runners in scoring position.
"When I got put in, I had to make sure I didn't trip down the stairs first. And then I just wanted to make it all the way to the mound without tripping," he explained.
Asked whether he wanted to take a few seconds to let the moment soak in when he first stepped on the mound, Diekman replied, "No, I really wanted to walk into the dugout and take a huge breath."
But the 25-year old felt better after coming back out to start the 10th.
"I felt pretty comfortable because I tried to control my breathing as much as possible, so the second inning helped a lot because I had that one hitter already. I felt like, 'Okay, you did it before. Just go do it again,'" he said.
Sounds like he might have taken a few lessons from Nuke LaLoosh.
For more of Diekman's comments after his major league debut, view the video below:
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