The call for Carmen Mlodzinski to enter the game July 28 came with the bases loaded, two outs and the Philadelphia Phillies leading the Pittsburgh Pirates by one run in the top of the ninth inning.

If that wasn’t pressure enough for the rookie right-hander, the stakes were even greater: Two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper was at the plate, looking to diminish any chance of a comeback.

“It’s definitely a thought in your head that you don’t want him to beat you in that situation because of how successful he’s been and how clutch of a player he is,” Mlodzinski said. “But in the bullpen you’ve got to execute pitches. You come in, and you execute pitches and do your job.”

When Mlodzinski threw eight warmup pitches, half of them were cutters. He suspected it might be the first pitch called, so Mlodzinski tried to sharpen it. His last pitch was a fastball, just to get the juices flowing. Then he was ready to face his biggest test.

Mlodzinski threw a 93 mph cutter inside and belt-high, and the left handed-hitting Harper connected just off the barrel with an inside-out cut swing for a line drive to left field. The ball left Harper’s bat at an exit velocity of 102.8 mph, sailing 317 feet and directly into the glove of Bryan Reynolds to end the frame.

Mlodzinski didn’t know whether to be thrilled or relieved.

“Definitely a little bit of both,” Mlodzinski said. “You’re obviously excited to get that out, but it was just so quick. I throw one pitch, and we’re out of the inning. I didn’t get a full at-bat to process it. I just threw one pitch and was out of there.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton didn’t hesitate to tout the importance of Mlodzinski’s performance against Harper and the Phillies.

“Talk about somebody who’s not scared,” Shelton said. “He’s not scared. He’s gonna go right after you with his stuff — good, bad or indifferent.”

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Selected in the first round (No. 31 overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft as a starting pitcher from South Carolina, Mlodzinski made 36 starts the past two seasons before moving to the bullpen at Triple-A Indianapolis.

Shelton credited the Pirates’ pitching group for identifying Mlodzinski as a pitcher who could be better in the bullpen than as a starter.

“You don’t like to take guys that were starters in the minor leagues and make ’em relievers,” Shelton said. “Our group identified that we thought this was a guy we thought could pitch at the back end of the game, and not only pitch at the back end of the game, but do it multi-inning or multiple-up situations. Those guys are extremely important, so I give our pitching group a ton of credit that they had the confidence that we can do that.”

Since making his major-league debut June 16 — the first of eight rookie call-ups by the Pirates over the past six weeks — Mlodzinski is 1-2 with a 1.86 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 19 1/3 innings over 17 appearances. He’s averaging 7.9 strikeouts and 3.3 walks per nine innings and hasn’t allowed an earned run over his past six relief outings — all of which came in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning.

“He continues to show that he can pitch in leverage situations, over the course of the West Coast road trip and even before that,” Shelton said. “He’s pushed into the back of the bullpen. He’s pushed himself into a situation where he can get both right-handers and left-handers out.”

Shelton cited Mlodzinski’s performance at Miami last month as the point of his turnaround. He inherited a bases-loaded situation in the eighth inning against the Marlins on June 22 and gave up a two-run single to Bryan De La Cruz and a three-run homer to Garrett Cooper, blowing the lead in a 6-4 loss.

Three days later, Mlodzinski inherited two runners but got Jorge Soler to ground into a forceout at home plate and gave up a single to Yuli Gurriel, who was thrown out at second. Since then, Mlodzinski has an 0.61 ERA and is holding opponents to a .177/.263/.196 slash line while recording 14 strikeouts against six walks with no home runs allowed.

“You could really see him starting to grow up right in front of us,” Shelton said, “which is really cool.”

Where Shelton showed confidence in Mlodzinski, the 24-year-old had a different takeaway from the moment. He took comfort in knowing he could handle a high-leverage moment against a superstar like Harper.

“You have a guy you don’t want to necessarily beat you, but you’ve still got to get him out — because it’s bases loaded in a close game — so you just make sure you’re comfortable in those situations,” Mlodzinski said. “Having that in my past and being able to look back and say, ‘This is how aggressive he was.’ Also, I can keep a tab on Harper. Last time I faced him, it was with the bases loaded in an important situation, and this is the result we got.”

It prepared Mlodzinski for Sunday’s game against the Phillies, when he inherited two runners from lefty Jose Hernandez with one out in the seventh inning. Mlodzinski struck out Nick Castellanos, but Harper lined a single down the first-base line that Connor Joe couldn’t catch, driving in one run. Alec Bohm followed with a single to right to score another and give the Phillies a 4-2 lead before Mlodzinski struck out Trea Turner. Mlodzinski retired the side in order in the eighth inning, finishing with two hits, three strikeouts and no earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

For Mlodzinski, executing his one pitch to get Harper out was proof he could handle a critical moment late in the game — to himself and, more importantly, the coaching staff.

“Everybody in this bullpen and on this pitching staff is going to be put in situations that are high-leverage, high-pressure situations,” Mlodzinski said. “Obviously, I’m grateful for the opportunity to be put into that. Ultimately, the execution of the pitch is something I was happy with.”

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