MLB playoffs 2018: What Yankees’ Austin Romine was thinking during 1st pitching appearance since high school

Yankees catcher Austin Romine became the second position player ever to pltch in a playoff game Monday night at Yankee Stadium.

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NEW YORK — As the Boston Red Sox continued to pile it on Monday night at Yankee Stadium in their historic 16-1 Game 3 ALDS rout, Yankees manager Aaron Boone schemed up an outside-the-box plan in the bottom of the eighth after rookie left-hander Stephen Tarpley had just taken a turn at taking some lumps.

Boone had used half of his eight-man bullpen to get through eight innings, and with Tarpley’s pitch count up to 31, he needed one more pitcher for the ninth.

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With an elimination game on the horizon the next night, Boone decided to keep his late-inning guys who hadn’t pitched fresh … Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton and David Robertson.

And so, after weighing limited options, Boone enlisted bench coach Josh Bard to approach backup catcher Austin Romine, who was leaning on the dugout rail.

“Can you throw?” Bard asked.

What Bard really was asking was, “Can you be a sacrificial lamb and pitch the ninth to save the ‘pen?”

Romine used to do some pitching when he wasn’t catching for El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif., but that was 11 years ago. No matter, without hesitation, Romine answered, “I can sure the hell try.”

And that’s how Boone added another historical footnote to this terrible night for the Yankees, as Romine’s appearance was just the second ever by a position player in the playoffs, the other coming in Game 4 of the 2015 ALCS when Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons used infielder Cliff Pennington for a third of an inning in a 14-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

With Boston up 14-1, Romine walked out to the mound with a simple mindset before allowing two runs in the ninth:

“I was trying to throw strikes and get through the inning,” Romine said.

Romine has a curveball, but he opted to throw all fastballs, or as catcher Gary Sanchez put it with a smile, “Fastball and a slower fastball.”

“You’ve got to change speeds or they’re going to hit it out,” said Romine, who hit 90 mph with one heater and 68 with another in an 18-pitch inning that included 10 strikes and eight balls.

Romine actually fared better than starter Luis Severino, long man Lance Lynn and Tarpley. He faced five hitters and retired three while allowing two runs, the tallies coming when Ian Kinsler walked with two down and Brock Holt followed with a home run that completed the first cycle in postseason history.

“I didn’t envision myself getting in these playoffs in that role, but you’re trying to help the guys out there,” Romine said. “I don’t want to make too much out of it. The big story is we didn’t get the job done that we needed to get done.

“It’s unfortunate I had to pitch in that game, but I’m going to do anything I can for the team.”

Along the way, Romine managed to what remained of the sellout crowd excited by retiring the first two hitters in the ninth, first Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts on a sharply hit ground ball to short and then third baseman Rafael Devers on a ground ball to third.

The fans loved it and started chanting, “Auuust-in Rooo-mine, Auuust-in, Rooo-mine.”

That’s when the Red Sox added more icing to their cakewalk.

When Kinsler walked, Holt was ecstactic about getting another chance to hit because he wanted to face Romine to take a crack at hitting for the cycle after singling off Severino and tripling off Chad Green in the Red Sox’s seventh-run fourth and hitting a ground-rule double facing Tarpley in the eighth.

“I knew I needed a home run,” said Holt, who got the start at second base in Game 3 after being a reserve in the first two games. “I saw Romine was on the mound, so you get a little antsy when a position player is on the mound. I told everyone, ‘Get me up. I need a home run for a cycle.’

“I was going to try to hit a home run, but i figured I’d ground out to first, be out in front of something. But I scooted up in the box a little bit, and I was going to be swinging at anything and try to hook anything. Obviously, you don’t expect to hit a home run, but I was trying to. That’s probably the first time I’ve ever tried to do that.”

Romine’s first pitch was a 79-mph fastball over the plate at the knees, Holt went for it and raked a liner into the right-field seats.

“I rounded the bases, and seeing everyone going nuts in the dugout was a pretty cool moment for me,” Holt said.

This pitching in the playoffs experience also was pretty cool for Romine, who got out of the inning when Holt’s homer was followed by catcher Christian Vazquez lining out to right.

“I’m sure I’ll look back on it and have some fun, but I was out there just trying to get through the inning,” Romine said.

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.