PITTSBURGH -- Trevor Rosenthal's season debut may have come in a familiar inning -- the ninth -- but the circumstances around it reflected a bit of new-age thinking by his manager.
Mike Matheny, who has previously hesitated to deploy his closer on the road in a tie game, utilized Rosenthal in such a spot on Tuesday. With the game tied at 5-5, Rosenthal was asked to handle the bottom of the ninth, which he did with ease. In doing so, Matheny was setting himself up to put a later save situation in the hands of either Seth Maness or Matt Bowman.