Sherrill threw his first two pitches for strikes and then unleashed a nasty cutter that disappeared from the strike zone, avoiding Gonzalez's swing to keep the score tied.
"I don't throw a cutter," Sherrill said, laughing. "It looked like it was a strike, and then all the sudden it just cut. We were lucky."
With only the Tampa Bay Rays' Scott Kazmir, who had thrown 104 pitches Sunday, available in the bullpen, Sherrill knew he would have to pitch the 13th if necessary.
He did and allowed one broken-bat single and nothing else. As he got to the dugout, the AL coaching staff approached him.
"They came to me. They caught me at the bottom of the steps," Sherrill said. "And they just said, 'How do you feel?' And I said, 'I feel fine.' I know Kaz is the only one out there. And they wanted to stay away from using him."
He added, "It was either make Baltimore mad or Tampa mad."
Sherrill didn't hesitate to go back out for the 14th despite rarely pitching more than an inning throughout most of his career.
In his first All-Star Game, he pitched longer than anyone else on the AL roster. He responded with a perfect 14th before turning it over to Kazmir, who picked up the win.
"For him to do what he did, with the enthusiasm. He wasn't coming out of that game," AL manager Terry Francona said "He didn't want to come out. And the way he pitched, he didn't deserve to come out."
Early on, Sherrill didn't think he would pitch at all. He warmed up in the sixth, but Francona didn't need him. So he assumed a bullpen session would be the extent of his All-Star experience.
Then came the 12th, 13th and 14th innings, when, with an efficient 25 pitches, Sherrill made a significant impact on one of the most remarkable July nights in baseball's storied history.
dan.connolly@baltsun.com
