Alec Asher on today's start, J.J. Hardy on Friday's win

TORONTO - Right-hander Alec Asher has had a whirlwind last couple of weeks. The Orioles acquired him in a March 28 trade with Philadelphia. Two days later, he pitched a scoreless inning versus Detroit in a spring training game.

Then he broke camp with Triple-A Norfolk and made a start for the Tides on Monday against Gwinnett. He pitched 4 1/3 scoreless, allowing four hits with no walks and six strikeouts, throwing 74 pitches.

Now here he is back in the major leagues but for a new team. The Orioles recalled him today and sent reliever Stefan Crichton back to Norfolk.

"You know, you just pitch at the start of the year and you have speculations (about a possible call-up), but you just go out and do your business and hope it happens, and that was kind of what we were in," Asher said Friday in the visiting clubhouse at Rogers Centre. "It's been a quick turnaround. But I feel like it's all for the good, and I'm happy with it and I'm excited."

He said he's trying not to worry about his roster spot, meaning whether or not he will still have one tomorrow.

"Right now, I'm just taking it one start at a time," he said. "I can't control anything but what I can control on the field, so that's just mainly how I look at it. I just go out there and compete and try to win."

The 25-year-old Asher has made 111 career minor league appearances (90 starts), going 32-33 with a 3.36 ERA. He's averaged 2.28 walks and 8.09 strikeouts per nine innings. He has made 12 major league starts over the last two years with the Phillies. Last September, he threw well in five games, going 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA for Philadelphia.

It was during last season that he made some changes to his repertoire.

"I kind of changed my pitching style, went from more of a four-seam to more of a two-seam (sinking fastball), adding a couple of pitches and tweaking a few things," he said. "I had success, and I'm building on that and trying to progress more and hopefully help the team win.

"Anytime you get called up to the big leagues, it's exciting. It's the main goal. You want to get here. You want to stay here. So, yeah, it's definitely exciting to know that you've kind of earned a spot, and from here, it's just taking it one game at a time."

The Orioles have won the first two games of this series by 2-1 and 6-4 scores. They are 4-0 versus Toronto and 7-2 overall, leading the American League East by 1 1/2 games over the New York Yankees.

In last night's win, Baltimore pitchers fanned 15 Blue Jays without walking a batter. Starters Kevin Gausman and Wade Miley have combined for 12 innings over the last two games, allowing 10 hits and four runs and recording back-to-back quality starts.

In the clubhouse Friday night, shortstop J.J. Hardy talked about the Orioles hitting four homers. His two-run shot gave the club a 4-3 lead in the fifth. He also passed along props to Miley for his solid outing.

"Yeah, couple of homers tonight and some big runs there," Hardy said. "Our pitchers did a great job. Seems like they struck everybody out. Wade was awesome. We love playing behind him. He works fast and was mixing up his pitches. Those hitters didn't look too comfortable against him. He's been throwing the ball really good."