Given A Chance, Boggs Knuckles Down To His New Job Veteran Third Baseman Exults In Long-Awaited Pitching Debut

New York Yankees manager Joe Torre might want to adjust his pitching rotation to include Wade Boggs.

The veteran third baseman, who has more than 2,500 career hits, showed he can pitch in a pinch Tuesday night. Relying on a knuckleball, he struck out one in a shutout inning of relief as the Yankees lost 12-4 to the Anaheim Angels.

“He opened my eyes,” said Torre, who went to Boggs as a way to rest his bullpen. “I had no idea what to expect. We may have found something out.”

Boggs fulfilled a longtime dream when he took the mound in the bottom of the eighth, reviving a crowd bored by a game that turned into a rout early.

“I was coming in and the last thing I heard was Jeff Nelson say, ‘We’re second in the league in pitching. Don’t screw it up,”’ Boggs said. “So that was a lot of pressure right there. I was so nervous.”

After some warm-up tosses, he unleashed the knuckleball his father taught him as a Little Leaguer in Georgia.

“I just sort of felt like Phil Niekro and Charlie Hough all rolled into one, and I was just having fun with it,” said Boggs, who was a pitcher in high school.

His first pitch was a strike to Luis Alicea. He got ahead in the count, but wound up yielding a walk.

Next up was Tim Salmon, who grounded into a force play.

“But I hit it solid,” Salmon said, laughing. “You don’t want to embarrass yourself. All of a sudden, you get 0-2 and say, ‘OK, this isn’t so much fun anymore.”’

Garret Anderson grounded out and then Boggs struck out Todd Greene to end the inning.

“He had some pretty nasty stuff out there,” said Angels right-hander Jason Dickson, who earned the victory in relief. “(Angels pitcher Dennis) Springer was admiring him a little bit. It was a treat.”

Boggs’ line was a modest one walk and one strikeout in one inning. He tossed 11 strikes and six balls to the four batters.

“I told them after the game I had one more inning in me,” he said. “I was kind of upset that I didn’t strike out the side.”

Boggs, 39, tipped his cap to the raucous crowd on the way to the dugout.

The fans went wild, chanting, “Waaade! Waaade!” and he bounded up the dugout steps for another tip of his cap.

“It was fun to watch,” Salmon said.

Boggs became the first position player to pitch for the Yankees since Mike Aldrete went one inning in a 16-4 loss at Milwaukee on July 18, 1996. Aldrete gave up one hit.

“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do in my career, and I just never really had the opportunity,” Boggs said. “The more they kept fouling balls off, I said, ‘Boy, this is great. I wish they would foul off a few more and give me a longer stint out here.”’

Torre got a kick out of seeing Boggs so excited.

“He thanked me after the game and I had to thank him because he did more for me than I did for him,” the manager said. “He just enjoyed the hell out of it.”