Sheffield lights-out in relief for RailRiders

In baseball, when best laid plans often go awry, the bullpen often picks up the slack. Luckily for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday night, the reliable relief option happened to be the club's best starter, Justus Sheffield.
The Yankees' second-ranked prospect yielded six hits and a walk over six scoreless innings out of the pen in the RailRiders' 4-2 loss to the IronPigs at Coca-Cola Park. The left-hander entered in the second inning after rehabbing big leaguer A.J. Cole (0-1) surrendered three runs before recording an out to start the game.

J.P. Feyereisen finished off the frame and bridged the gap to Sheffield, who originally expected his night would begin in the third.
"I didn't really know what to do because I was ready to get on the mound right then," he said. "I went out when Cole did -- when he started warming up. I went out and did my long toss. So I kind of got in my head that I was ready to get on the mound, but then I had to sit back down. It was just weird for me."
MLB.com's No. 41 overall prospect struck out three and lowered his International League ERA to 2.82 in his ninth outing on the circuit. It was the first appearance out of the bullpen for the 22-year-old since Aug. 16, 2014, when he pitched in the Rookie-level Arizona League as an Indians prospect.
"It was something I wasn't used to," Sheffield said. "I'm used to watching the game from the dugout, not the outfield."
The 2014 first-rounder had some minor difficulties in his past two starts, but allowed just five earned runs over a 23 1/3-inning span. The stretch began when he locked up his first Triple-A win on June 8 against Louisville after allowing a pair of unearned runs over six one-hit frames.
Gameday box score
All of the IronPigs' 12 hits Wednesday night were singles and Sheffield scattered just three of those base hits over his first five innings. He said he looked to attack the zone and trust his defense to make plays on weak contact, especially after entering the game in a three-run hole.
"I can live with singles," he said. "That just means I'm making my pitches.
Nick Rickles led off the seventh with the first of three infield hits in the inning. Dean Anna and Collin Cowgill beat out singles to third to load the bases with one out.
"It's just one of those innings where [it] doesn't go your way," he said. "I just kept breathing. ... That's the thing about baseball, you can make your pitches and they can get a hit and there's nothing you can do about it. You got to tip your cap and move on to the next hitter."
But Mitch Walding blooped a broken-bat liner to third base that Tyler Wade snagged and dove toward the base to pull off the unassisted double play to escape the jam. Sheffield exited after throwing 54 of 96 pitches for strikes.

"I just wanted to stick to doing what I can do and controlling what I can control and execute my pitches," he said. "Eventually things are going to go your way if you keep doing that."
Placed on the disabled list with a neck strain last week, Cole allowed three hits, walked two and uncorked a wild pitch to put the RailRiders behind. The 26-year-old righty yielded only one run in his first 13 innings with New York after being designated for assignment by the Nationals and traded for cash on April 24.
Yankees No. 16 prospect Billy McKinney clubbed a fourth-inning solo shot and a single. The blast was his 10th of the year, the second-most in the Minors since his return from the DL on May 29. Veteran infielder Brandon Drury also added a solo shot and a single to bring his Triple-A average to .315.
The two homers were charged to Phillies No. 21 prospectDrew Anderson (5-2), who allowed five hits and a walk while striking out four over seven innings.