Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Josh Sharpless pitched a perfect 11/3 innings in the U.S. win at PNC Park. Click photo for larger image.

It was a scenario no reliever truly relishes.

Based loaded.

Game on the line.

And, worst by far, coming in cold.

As Josh Sharpless would put it later, "You don't have any margin for error. You've got to throw strikes right off the bat."

In a strange sort of way, though, Sharpless found comfort in it, and the Pirates' top pitching prospect would produce the most important out of the U.S. team's 8-5 victory against the World in the All-Star Futures Game last night at PNC Park.

The United States was protecting a three-run lead in the fifth inning -- the game lasts only seven -- and the World had men on every base with two outs for Chin Lung Hu, a Taiwanese national who ranks among the Los Angeles Dodgers' top prospects.

U.S. manager Gary Carter had scheduled Sharpless to pitch the sixth, but the situation prompted an early summons.

Sharpless, meanwhile, had been wild in his initial warmup pitches in the bullpen, the result, he said, of some serious nerves.

"Oh, man, I'm out there, and I'm hearing people I don't even know yelling out my name," he recalled. "And all I'm telling myself is, 'Don't look around. Don't look where you are.' "

Where Sharpless was was a 25-minute ride from his home in Freedom, Beaver County, where he enjoyed the company of his family. And about a 10-minute ride from the Original Hot Dog Shop, where he had eaten an honest Pittsburgh meal the previous night.

And, yes, Sharpless, a standout for Class AAA Indianapolis, was in the ballpark where he hopes to be pitching soon for the home team.

"So, they call me into the game, and I'm jogging in there just looking down, not looking in the stands, not looking at my family, not listening to the crowd ..."

And then ...

"I looked up. It was just too much. And you know what? It was the situation that actually helped relax me. For me to come in with bases loaded, that makes it more like a real game for me. It was perfect."

So was Sharpless' performance.

His first pitch to Hu was an 89-mph fastball that froze him. The next was 2 mph faster but, as Sharpless described, had much more to offer.

"I have some natural movement on my fastball, and that one had more than most. It moved away from him about 3 inches."

Just enough to get Hu to fly softly to center and end the inning.

Afterward, Hu blamed himself for "swinging at a bad pitch," although it clearly was anything but.

Sharpless was no less efficient in the sixth inning. He retired all three batters, throwing eight of 12 pitches for strikes for what would turn out to be one of only four 1-2-3 innings by pitchers on either side.

"It was just great, the whole thing," Sharpless said. "I've been dreaming all my life about playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and this just makes me want that day to come even more."

Neil Walker, the Pirates' other entry and another local, hailing from Richland, received just as loud an ovation from the estimated 27,000 in attendance during introductions. But he did not make nearly as big a dent in the game.

His only two at-bats came in the U.S. team's five-run third inning, but they were no more than bookend outs. He led off by grounding out to second, then popped up to his counterpart at catcher to end it.

Not that it wiped the customary smile off his face.

"When I heard all those people cheering me when they announced my name, that's the thing that sticks out for me," Walker said. "I think it tells you a lot about the people in Pittsburgh and the pride that they take in their own here. Hopefully, Josh and I can come through for them someday."

Of his at-bats, he shrugged and said, "It just didn't happen, but that's not what I'm going to take from this."

Among other highlights:

Left fielder Billy Butler, the top power-hitting prospect of the Kansas City Royals, was named most valuable player for his home run and RBI single in three at-bats. In the second inning, Butler drilled a full-count, two-out curveball into the center-field seats for a 2-0 U.S. lead. Told his bat was going to Cooperstown, Butler replied: "You've got to be kidding me. It's got to be going to another Hall of Fame, not the real thing."

Top performer for the World was catcher George Kottaras, property of the San Diego Padres, who hit a two-run home run in the fourth -- driving a 1-0 fastball into the center-field seats -- and doubling in his other at-bat.

Matt Lindstrom, a fireballing closer in the New York Mets' system, followed Sharpless with a riveting seventh inning. He struck out his first batter on 99-mph heat, his next on a curveball after two more 99-mph fastballs, then got Carlos Gonzalez to fly out on a 100-mph offering.