Drew Smyly followed a long, winding road back from elbow surgery to the Phillies’ starting rotation | Scott Lauber

Drew Smyly figured his worst day as a big-league pitcher would have been July 6, 2017, when he had surgery to reconstruct a ligament in his left elbow and put a promising career on hold.

Somehow, though, June 18 of this year topped it.

Having finally gotten back to the majors after a two-year absence only to cough up his spot in the Texas Rangers’ starting rotation, Smyly came on for mop-up duty against the Cleveland Indians. And in a span of five pitches in the seventh inning, he gave up back-to-back-to-back home runs to Jake Bauers, Roberto Perez, and Tyler Naquin.

Two days later, to no one’s surprise, Smyly was designated for assignment and subsequently released.

"It's not how I saw it going, especially coming back after missing two years," Smyly said the other day. "I knew it would be a challenge. But I never envisioned it going that south."

Rock bottom can be a lonely place, especially for a former second-round pick who once pitched in a Detroit Tigers rotation with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer before getting traded for David Price and striking out eight batters in 4⅔ innings of a start for Team USA in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. And Smyly’s disappointment was profound.

It stands to reason, then, that the 30-year-old left-hander isn't taking for granted the second chance that he recently received from the Phillies. And after finally acquiring Smyly after coming up short in two previous bids, the pitching-strapped Phillies view him as more than a low-risk flier who will cost them only $211,000 for the rest of this season.

"He's got a very interesting profile," general manager Matt Klentak said. "Given the minimal acquisition cost, and given where we are in our rotation, we thought it was a gamble worth taking."

The Phillies tried to take it two years ago.

Smyly was still in the salary arbitration stage of his career, not yet eligible for free agency, when the Seattle Mariners didn't tender him a contract after the 2017 season. Even though he was going to miss all or most of 2018, the Phillies considered signing him to a two-year contract and guiding him through his rehabilitation with the goal of plugging him into their rotation this year.

It surely would have been a risk. But Smyly had demonstrated great upside in posting a 3.20 ERA and averaging 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings over 219⅔ innings in 2014-15 with Detroit and Tampa Bay. Phillies pitching coach Chris Young recalled Smyly “throwing fuel and punching tickets at a pretty high rate” in that WBC start against Venezuela.

But the Chicago Cubs had the same idea to bet on Smyly's recovery. And they were willing to make a $10 million guarantee over two seasons, plus kick in as much as $7 million in performance bonuses. That was too much for the Phillies, who had recently been burned on free-agent deals with pitchers Charlie Morton and Clay Buchholz.

"Philly has always, since I can remember, they've definitely shown interest in me every step of the way," Smyly said. "My agent always told me that they have definitely kept in touch."

It didn’t escape the Phillies’ notice, then, that Smyly made one minor-league rehab start late last season before being shut down. Or that the Cubs traded him to the Rangers last Nov. 2 to clear salary space. Or that Smyly gave up at least four earned runs in eight of 13 appearances for Texas en route to posting an 8.42 ERA.

A few days after Smyly got cut loose by the Rangers last month, the Phillies called. It wasn't any old job offer either. In addition to Klentak's interest in signing Smyly to a minor-league contract, team officials outlined specific changes that they believed would put his career back on course.

The Milwaukee Brewers made a similar pitch. Smyly said both clubs focused on tweaks to his mechanics to get better break on his curveball and throwing his cutter in more to right-handed hitters.

Smyly went with the Brewers’ minor-league offer if only because he had already had a relationship with assistant general manager Matt Arnold from his time with Tampa Bay. He applied some of the changes and posted a 4.97 ERA in three triple-A starts.

But with the Brewers not yet ready to call him up, Smyly triggered an opt-out in the contract and asked for his release.

The Phillies were waiting. And this time, with starters Nick Pivetta and Vince Velasquez struggling, Jake Arrieta pitching with a bone spur in his elbow, and Zach Eflin coping with midseason fatigue, they were ready to give Smyly a shot in the rotation.

“We kept an eye on his progress in triple A and noticed that he had incorporated several of the things that we thought he should do,” Klentak said. “When he opted out, we jumped on it.”

In his Phillies debut last Sunday in Pittsburgh, Smyly gave up one run on four hits and two walks and struck out eight batters over six innings of a 2-1 victory. He got eight swings-and-misses with a curveball that moved like a screwball. He threw 30 cutters, more than in any start in his career and 10 more than in any game this season for the Rangers.

It was only one start, but it was promising.

"Those are all things that, you tie them together, I think it's easy to kind of look ahead and feel good about potentially where he's headed," Young said.

For Smyly, at last, there’s no more looking back.

“Texas releasing me definitely gave me the opportunity to figure out, OK, how do I get back to the pitcher that I was before?” Smyly said. “Philly, and even the Brewers, they gave me some really good information that I can apply and just simplify the game out there.

" I’m just very grateful for this opportunity to get back in the big leagues and reestablish myself as the guy that I used to be.”