PITTSBURGH — Phillies manager Charlie Manuel echoed what Pittsburgh's John Russell said: Pirates reliever Evan Meek was a shoo-in for the National League All-Star team.

Meek, a former Rule 5 draft pick who has been one of the NL's best setup relievers this season, will be the Pirates' lone all-star representative unless there are unexpected developments before the July 13 game in Anaheim.

"Oh, man, it's really exciting," said Meek, who was chosen a few hours before earning the victory as the Pirates rallied to beat the Phillies 8-5 on Sunday. "I was kind of taken back by it a little bit with (center fielder) Andrew McCutchen being very deserving. It's overwhelming."

Meek, who was in Double-A about this time in 2008 and was once cut by Minnesota, is 4-2 with an 0.96 ERA, allowing five earned runs in 47 innings. He has 42 strikeouts while allowing 29 hits and 11 walks.

"If you look at his numbers and experience and things like that and what he's done, I think that definitely wasn't a hard pick at all," said Manuel, the NL All-Star manager who included Meek among his 10 picks.

While the Pirates also wanted McCutchen in the game, it would have been difficult to justify choosing two players from a team that is 22 games below .500 and recently lost 18 of 20.

"It's OK. I'm fine with it," said McCutchen, who is hitting .295 with seven homers and 24 RBIs.

Until Meek was chosen, the Pirates hadn't had a pitcher other than a starter or a closer chosen for the All-Star game since the closer's role emerged. Their last reliever selected was Mike Williams in 2003 and 2004, when he was picked mostly because each team is required to have one player in the game.

"Like I said, I thought he was a shoo-in," said Russell, who made his comment after Meek pitched two scoreless innings Thursday against the Phillies. "On the same note, I'm very disappointed for Andrew, I thought he was a very deserving candidate. But everybody's very happy for Evan."

Meek is one of the few gems acquired during general manager Neal Huntington's tenure. While Rule 5 picks generally must stay with a team for a full season, the Pirates were able to send Meek back to the minors without losing him to Tampa Bay by working out a trade with the Rays.

"Even when we drafted him, he took a nontraditional route of going back to Double-A and, obviously, he wasn't happy about it," Huntington said. "Evan's a great story and deserves all credit in world."

Two former Pirates who were cast off by the team — third baseman Jose Bautista of Toronto and closer Matt Capps of Washington — were selected as All-Stars in the players' vote in each league. The Pirates cut Capps last winter because he sought a $500,000 raise. Bautista was traded for a former backup catcher, Robinzon Diaz, who is no longer with the Pirates.