SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Triple-A manager Pat Murphy had quite the trick to play on Austin Hedges for the catcher’s first career callup to the major leagues.

In Sacramento on Sunday with El Paso ready to leave by bus for Fresno, an athletic trainer approached Hedges concerned about whether the player had been out on the town and gotten into trouble the previous night. No way, Hedges promised, he was in bed where he should have been ”“ and had a teammate and roommate as an alibi.

When a couple of men posing as authorities boarded the bus and asked Hedges to step off, that’s when Murphy made the big announcement: he was big-league bound.

“This was up there,” Hedges said while recalling one of Murphy’s grand schemes. “Obviously it was a whirlwind of emotions. I was super rattled. … It was kind of cool to do that on the bus in front of everybody and get a hug from my teammates.”

The 22-year-old catching prospect drove to the Bay Area and met the Padres in San Francisco, where they opened a three-game series against the World Series champion Giants on Monday night. He made his major league debut and struck out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth against World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.