Yankees’ Justus Sheffield relives emotional day … from subway to closing out Red Sox in debut

Justus Sheffield pitched a scoreless ninth inning in his major league debut Wednesday to close out a 10-1 Yankees win over the Red Sox.

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NEW YORK — Yankees No. 1 prospect Justus Sheffield has been staying at a Midtown Manhattan hotel since his status changed this week to first-time big leaguer.

The 22-year-old left-hander has felt like a New Yorker taking the subway to Yankee Stadium for his first games.

Nobody recognized him.

“I guess they don’t know me yet,” Sheffield said with a smile Wednesday night after his exciting, never-racking and successful major league debut, a scoreless ninth inning in the Yankees’ 10-1 shellacking of the Boston Red Sox.

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Yankees fans know Sheffield, and the Bleacher Creatures welcomed him to the majors with a roll call-like chant from right field in the ninth inning.

The Jusss-tus Shefff-field serenading was about as loud as it got for Luke Voit’s two homers, and it was heard – and appreciated – by the guy on the mound who was struggling to calm his nerves.

“The fans were awesome,” the 6-foot, 200 pounder said. “I even heard my name. They were chanting. That’s how I knew I wasn’t really locked in because I was hearing the fans. But it was awesome.”

The finish was awesome for Sheffield, too, but this debut almost turned ugly before AL MVP favorite Mookie Betts grounded into a bases-loaded, game-ending double play.

Sheffield was nervous warming up in the bullpen, during his walk to the mound and throughout his scoreless inning, one in which he threw only nine strikes in 21 pitches.

“The first thing I was thinking was don’t trip running to the mound,” Sheffield said. “Just don’t trip. Once I got out there it felt like when I got on the mound that everything was going to settle down a little bit, but nerves and adrenalin were pumping. It was pumping heavy.”

A line single, infield single and one-out walk loaded the bases with one out for Betts, the only Red Sox player that Sheffield knows personally.

Betts is from Nashville. Sheffield comes from the suburbs and they sometimes see one another working out at the same gym in the offseason.

Before Betts stepped into the batter’s box, he nodded to Sheffield, who nodded back.

Then it was on.

“I was trying to settle down,” Sheffield said. “(Shortstop) Didi (Gregorius) was out there telling me to slow down, ‘Just breath.’ That’s what I just kept doing. I knew sooner or later if I kept doing that, I was going to make the right pitch. Those guys were going to get themselves out if I made the right pitch.”

Sheffield pitched to Betts last March in a Grapefruit League game in Fort Myers, Fla., and walked him.

This time, Sheffield fell behind 3-1, then threw a low-and-inside corner slider that Betts crushed to left. Fortunately for Sheffield, the blast curved foul instead of going into the seats fair for a grand slam.

“Thankfully he hooked it a little bit,” Sheffield said. “If he hit a home run off me, I wouldn’t have been too happy at all.”

Sheffield’s next pitch was a good one, a 94-mph fastball at the knees on the outside corner.

Betts had to swing or get rung up, and he banged a ground ball to short. Gregorius picked it, flipped to second baseman Ronald Torreyes, who threw to Voit at first, and this Yankees victory – and first Sheffield outing – was in the books.

Sheffield was relieved, ecstatic … and momentarily unaware that the game was over.

“It was crazy because I was getting ready to head to the dugout for another inning because I’m not used to closing games,” said Sheffield, who was 7-5 with a 2.48 ERA working 116 innings this season for Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. “It was cool though. It was my first time closing a game, so it was incredible. I was glad to get the double play and get out of it.”

Sheffield has been a starting pitcher throughout his career and that’s still his future, but the Yankees wanted him to get his feet wet in the majors this year and they believed the best way to do it was as a reliever.

So he was moved from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s rotation to its bullpen in August to prepare, and he made seven late-season relief appearances – the last three in the International League playoffs – before being called up on Tuesday.

A day later, Sheffield has a scoreless inning on his big-league resume plus memories of a lot of anxiety that just wouldn’t go away. A half hour after the game, it was still there as Sheffield’s post-game interview was wrapping up.

“I’m still nervous,” Sheffield said with a sly grin. “Honestly, I can’t even describe it. There were so many emotions going through my head before and when I was out there. There was a lot of excitement and a lot of nerves.”

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