Pitch: Kylie Bunbury on relating to Ginny's emotional journey

Every week, a member of the cast or crew of Fox’s Pitch — the fictional story of the first woman to play Major League Baseball — is taking EW behind the scenes. For each episode, a cast or crew member is sharing thoughts on what went down, what’s coming up, and walking us through the ins and outs of the show. This week, star Kylie Bunbury, who plays Ginny Baker, walks us through the sixth episode, “Wear It.”

On relating to Ginny’s struggle in this episode

What’s interesting about this episode is that it wasn’t very difficult for me to play the spectrum of emotions just because I feel like, just me as Kylie, I was sort of experiencing the same things as Ginny was just in terms of feeling maybe a little overworked. So, it wasn’t too difficult to tap into those things because I was feeling them myself [from] working so hard on this show and being on set all the time and how much it demands of you and then also doing press as well. It can be very tasking and emotionally draining. So, it just happened to land on the exact same time as Kylie was experiencing it, so I was able to really tap into it. But, it was really fun to be able to in one episode kind of come full circle. It was really, really an exciting episode for me.

On Ginny’s emotional breakdown in the bathtub

It was very cathartic, but also the interesting about that is when you’re working on scenes, some days you’re not feeling it or you don’t connect that much, but I feel like I did the work. But, it’s also tough, too, because you’re put on the spot to express how you’re genuinely feeling and how the character is genuinely feeling and that can feel quite ominous and can be difficult.

On why she loves Ginny and Cara’s (Lyndsy Fonseca) friendship

It was so much fun because we’re typically seeing Ginny with guys. She does very well with guys, and she can handle guys very well. We don’t get to see a lot of Ginny’s feminine side and I think that’s going to be exciting for people to see. How does she handle her femininity? What is she like when she just lets loose? So to see her friend be a woman, you’re getting to see a totally different side of her. She opens her up to this completely different world that she’s not used to and just lets loose. Who doesn’t like a release of energy that they’ve been keeping in for so long because they’ve had to just continue to stay focused and work so hard at such a young age? So, the release is just so important and that’s what you come to realize at the end of the episode, is the release and acknowledging your feelings instead of suppressing them. I think that’s what the whole episode is basically about, and that’s what so cool about the scenes between Ginny and Rita Wilson, who plays the therapist — she just starts to slowly open her up to just acknowledging her own feelings.

On working with Rita Wilson

I was a fan of her work beforehand. It’s just such a treat to work with her. She’s wonderful, she’s delightful, and you never know what to expect especially since she’s part of such a power coupling. But, she was delightful and just kind and fun. I always like to just observe, especially people who have been in this industry this long, and just soak things up like a sponge, whether it be as an actor or a human being. I learned a lot from her. It was really great working with her.

On Ginny’s relationship with Amelia (Ali Larter) and Mike (Mark-Paul Gosselaar)

I believe [Ginny and Amelia’s relationship is] a little strained. There’s a large part of Ginny that knows that it’s completely fine what they’re doing. They’re two consenting adults and it’s completely fine, but she can’t help [it]. It’s very evident that there’s a connection between Ginny and Mike, but also I feel like she feels slightly betrayed in the sense that, “You’re sort of crossing the line here. This is my teammate. You are my agent.” So, I think Ginny is just feeling a little lonely and a little out of place and little misunderstood and just needs some release and just wants to be immersed in the world of normalcy and wants to do things that guys and girls her age do that are normal and not have any consequences coming with it, but obviously there are with Ginny and that’s what she learns.

I think that Mike sees how much it is affecting her and he’s going to take that into consideration in the next episode as well. He’s going to take what happened to us out on the mound into consideration because he’s gotta think about his team. Because the dynamic between a catcher and pitcher is very interesting and you have to be in sync, and it’s almost like a dance. If something is a little off, the whole game can implode. So, he needs to get us realigned again and you’ll see that realignment happening in future episodes.

On Ginny’s reaction to Trevor’s (Shamier Anderson) photos of her leaking

She’s owning her s—: “Okay, I can handle anything and I’m strong.” She’s acknowledging her strength in that moment. The theme of her sort of going rogue was, “What else you got?” and so she just sort of tied that in. “Okay, here’s another thing, but it’s not going to knock me down. And even if it does, I’m just going to get back up.”

—As told to Chancellor Agard