Female pitcher gets not as many (5)
I believe the answer is:
fewer
'not as many' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'female pitcher' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'pitcher' becomes 'ewer' (synonyms).
'f'+'ewer'='FEWER'
'gets' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for fewer that I've seen before include "in smaller numbers" , "smaller number of people" , "Not so many" , "Less in number" , "Reduced" .)