First baseman Overbay pitches, gets final out in eighth

ATLANTA -- An unlikely battle of Washingtonians took place on Monday night at Turner Field when the Brewers tabbed first baseman Lyle Overbay to take the mound against Ryan Doumit, his former teammate with the Pirates in 2011.

Overbay, who took the mound for the first time in his 14th season in the Major Leagues, made the folks back home in Centralia, Wash., proud when he got Doumit -- a Moses Lake, Wash., native -- to pop out to shortstop Jean Segura to end the eighth.

"Anytime you face another position player, you just don't want to strike out, especially against another Washington boy and former teammate," Doumit said. "So, I was just trying to put the bat on the ball."

Overbay, who pitched sparingly at the University of Nevada-Reno, volunteered to take a big league mound for the first time when he heard the Brewers were planning to send catcher Martin Maldonado to the mound and put Jeff Bianchi behind the plate.

"These guys make it look a lot easier than it is," said Overbay, who threw six pitches in his perfect one-third of an inning of relief. "I just threw it slow enough for him to pop out."

Overbay has worked his way around the diamond the past couple of years, seeing time as an outfielder for the Yankees last season before pitching for the Brewers on Monday.

"[Baseball] never ceases to amaze you," Overbay said.

As for his future on the mound, Overbay believes he needs to step up his velocity if he plans to ever toe the rubber on a Major League mound again.

"Let's see if I can get it up to past 85, though, first," Overbay joked.

But Doumit is more optimistic. Granted, he has to be after going down against a guy who has not pitched regularly since his high school days in the 1990s.

"The kid has nasty stuff," Doumit quipped. "He's got a bright future. I'm going to keep my eye on him."