When Cam Alldred got word of his callup to the Pittsburgh Pirates late Tuesday night, he was shocked and almost speechless.

“I blacked out,” he said.

Not exactly. He was conscious enough to know what he wanted to do next.

“I wanted to call my dad and tell him. I wanted him to be the first one to know,” Alldred said Wednesday in the Pirates’ clubhouse.

It was a big moment for the 25-year-old left-hander, the Pirates’ 24th-round choice in the 2018 draft.

Sadly, dad was sleeping. When he called his fiancee, she also was sleeping.

Finally, he reached his mom at work around midnight and she rushed home with the news. Of course, dad didn’t sleep the rest of the night.

But there wasn’t much time to revel in the moment.

“When my mom finally answered,” Alldred said, “I was, like, `I’d love to sit here and talk to you, but I have to get some sleep.’ ”

After all, he was in Charlotte with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians and the Pirates had arranged a 6 a.m. flight to Pittsburgh.

No problem. He was up and out the door at 4.

Alldred didn’t pitch in the Pirates’ 5-3 victory Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he said he was ready – even on maybe four hours sleep.

“Of course. I was running on so much adrenaline,” he said.

Alldred, who spent three years (2016-2018) at the University of Cincinnati, gives the Pirates a fourth left-hander. The other three — Dillon Peters, Anthony Banda and Jose Quintana — pitched in the Dodgers series, and the Pirates may be looking for more depth from the left side.

Alldred could be used in a hybrid role, starting as an opener and/or relieving, Shelton said.

He has been effective pitching against left-handers in Indianapolis, holding them to one hit in 24 at-bats. Overall, in eight appearances, he has compiled a 1-1 record, 0.849 WHIP and an ERA of 1.53 – exactly one run better than his impressive 2.53 last year at Double-A Altoona. He allowed 12 hits and three walks and struck out 15 batters in 17 2/3 innings.

He credits his success to the ability to make quick adjustments “on the fly.”

“Reading swings, figuring hitters out … see what makes them uncomfortable and continue to do that,” he said.

Manager Derek Shelton said he has received good scouting reports on Alldred.

“We’ve heard about a lot of bad swings. People don’t get good looks off him,” Shelton said. “Funky left-hander who people just do not take good swings at. You see that at first and you think, ‘OK, maybe he’s running into a situation where guys aren’t seeing the ball well.’

“But when you do it over the course of two years, that shows you that the stuff does have the ability to play. Guys are not making solid contact.

Shelton said observers aren’t “enamored” with the velocity or the metrics of Alldred’s stuff. But the proof may be in the number of swing-and-misses he creates.

“The hitters will tell you at times that the stuff plays better than maybe it metrically grades out as,” he said.

Plus, it’s not a bad idea to add another left-hander to the staff.

“Especially because we’ve used Peters in a little bit different role,” Shelton said.

With mom and dad and many friends and family members wide awake now and in attendance Thursday night in PNC Park, Alldred made his major-league debut in the sixth inning of the Pirates’ 4-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds

Alldred retired the fourth, fifth and sixth batters — Mike Moustakas, Tyler Stephenson and Colin Moran — on only 13 pitches.

“I think you saw some pretty good major-league hitters take some swings that they were not on balance on,” Shelton said. “Impressive debut for him.”

He left the game in the seventh after surrendering a leadoff single to Tyler Naquin.

Growing up a Reds fan and watching their games with his dad, Alldred knows who will get the baseball he used to strike out Stephenson.

“My dad, for sure, 100%.”

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