Mark Madden's Hot Take: Position players pitching turns baseball games into a joke

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 14-4 at San Francisco on Monday. Pirates utilityman Chase Owings (since cut) pitched the bottom of the eighth, the last time the Giants batted.

A non-pitcher pitching is stupid. It happens at the end of lopsided games far too often. It shouldn’t happen at all.

There’s no good reason for a non-pitcher to pitch. It makes for a farce of a half-inning, with blooper pitches, raised eyebrows, stifled laughs and general silliness.

The Pirates have 13 pitchers on their roster. That’s plenty. No need to put a non-pitcher on the mound.

Getting three outs won’t “waste a pitcher,” especially not with 13 on the roster. It’s not like the Pirates need their staff fresh for the World Series. Maybe the lesser lights would improve more via work, not rest.

A non-pitcher pitching invalidates the game. It turns proceedings into a joke.

It’s also a form of surrender. Teams shouldn’t quit.

MLB has fixed so much via rule changes. There’s no way to legislate against non-pitchers pitching. But it’s one of the few irritating things left in baseball.

It trails the absolute incompetence of the umpires by a big margin.

With replay so pervasive, MLB teams should have the option of appealing an ejection.

If a player or manager gets tossed for arguing a call but the umpire is proven wrong via replay, an appealed ejection should be rescinded.

The notion of being ejected because you’re on the right side of an argument might be even dumber than a non-pitcher pitching.