Wilson's feat worthy of 'The Week with Quirkjian'

New York – Josh Wilson has an item he'd like to submit to ESPN's Tim Kurkjian, who delights in the quirky side of baseball.

"Somebody was wondering if anybody has ever gotten a hit and given up a home run in the same game at the new stadium (in New York)," Wilson said. "I don't know about that, but I bet nobody has hit a home run in old Yankee Stadium and given up a home run in the new one."

He's probably right about that.

Wilson, who homered in old Yankee Stadium in 2007, pitched the eighth inning of the 14-3 blowout loss Saturday. He gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Chris Young.

"That was a silly pitch," Wilson said. "I thought I was a little better than I am."

Wilson tried to sneak an 87 mph fastball by him. He gave up a single to Brendan Ryan, too, but got out of the inning inducing a double-play ball from John Ryan Murphy.

"If you put aside the fact that we are getting our brains beat out and losing the game, yeah, it's fun for a position player to get out there and pitch," said Wilson. "I've done it a lot."

It was Wilson's fourth big league appearance – he also pitched for Tampa, Arizona and San Diego. He's allowed six hits and four runs in four innings.

"Justin (Verlander) asked me if I was nervous," Wilson said. "Really, it was my fourth time out there, so I was more thinking how can I get these guys out."

Wilson actually threw four pitches – a four-seam and two-seam fastball, a cutter and one unfortunate curveball.

"Yeah, it was the one I threw behind Ryan," he said. "I don't know what happened there. I was throwing that pretty good when I was warming up in the cage."

Wilson, who has also made three appearances in Triple-A, works on his pitches daily during pre-game warmups.

"Absolutely," he said. "I have been messing around trying to throw cutters and stuff like that for years. I just was playing catch the other day and I threw a couple that felt good. I was gripping it different, more like a four-seamer, and it moved pretty well."

That said, Wilson's not trying to fool anybody. He knows why he was on the mound.

"You are never going to give up in a game but there is a time when you have to be thinking about tomorrow," he said. "The next day is coming, whether you want it to or not. Sometimes you have to cut your losses. Because I was able to go out there, we have one more arm in the bullpen today."

Twitter @cmccosky