OAKLAND – By pitching Sunday, John Axford ended the longest quiet time of his professional baseball career.
Sidelined by a lat injury midway through the spring, the veteran right-handed short reliever was MIA for the first 43 games, which calculates out to about one-quarter of the season.
He didn’t take the first trip to the disabled list of his career well.
“I’ve always taken a lot of pride on being out there,” Axford said. “I knew when to hold back and when to keep pitching.
“So when it happened I felt personally hurt by not pitching.