PHILADELPHIA–Jeremy Accardo was walking to the bullpen in Reno, Nev., on Wednesday night when his coaches informed him that the Blue Jays had promoted him to the majors.
From Reno he flew to Phoenix, then caught an overnight flight to Philadelphia, where Jays manager Cito Gaston told the sleep-deprived pitcher he would play only as a last resort.
Nine innings and seven pitchers into yesterday's game, Gaston examined his depleted supply of available arms, considered his club's tenuous one-run lead in the series finale against the World Series-champion Phillies and played his final card. The moment B.J. Ryan struck out Ryan Howard, Gaston summoned Accardo, who recorded two outs to save an 8-7 win.
For Accardo, who endured an agonizing early season wait at Triple-A as the Jays promoted several of his teammates, yesterday's save wasn't perfect. But it provided proof that he's healthy and skilled enough to compete in the majors again.
Last season, chronic soreness in Accardo's right elbow limited him to just 16 appearances. And though he didn't need surgery, he said it's only been a few weeks since he's felt healthy and confident enough to pitch all-out.
"(The save) just gives you that confidence, and you have to pitch confident," said Accardo. "I knew I was ready but I have to prove to some people that I belong here, and that's a good way to go about it."
Yesterday's win made three straight for the Jays, and marked their first series sweep since taking four from the White Sox in mid-May. In three games against the Phillies, the Jays' resurgent offence produced 23 runs, the final one – yesterday's winner – coming from another player Gaston had hoped not to use yesterday.
As he usually does the day after night games, catcher Rod Barajas sat while Raul Chavez started, the latter swatting his second homer of the season to give the Jays an early 2-0 lead.
But as the game progressed, the Phillies countered every Blue Jay burst of offence. By the fourth inning they had tagged starter Brad Mills – making his major-league debut – for four earned runs and pulled ahead by a run. After two more innings and another Phillies run, Barajas realized he might have to pinch-hit, so he left the dugout and began warming up.
Gaston ran through three other pinch-hitters and didn't really want to send Barajas to the plate in the ninth, but he had no other options. Having worked just a third of an inning, Jason Frasor had more pitches in him but was scheduled to lead off the ninth.
Gaston knew the Jays didn't need a pitcher batting that late in a tie game, especially when the only two relievers available were the exhausted Accardo and the inconsistent Ryan. Instead, they needed offence.
Quickly.
So Barajas batted in Frasor's place and swatted a mammoth home run into the shrubbery beyond the centre-field fence.
Aware of pitcher Ryan Madson's changeup, Barajas' plan was to attack the fastball, no matter what.
"If he threw me a changeup, I didn't think I was going to succeed, even if I was sitting on it," Barajas said. "I just told myself to look for something hard. ... I guessed right and he did throw the fastball. I didn't think I could hit it that far to that part of the ballpark."
