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Kazmir leads Devil Rays over Yankees

Jul 14, 2007 - 3:26 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- While growing up in Houston, Scott Kazmir was a huge fan of Roger Clemens. On Friday, he defeated his idol.

Kazmir tossed six solid innings and Dioner Navarro and Josh Wilson each knocked in two runs as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays posted a 6-4 victory over the New York Yankees in the second contest of a four-game set on Friday.

Delmon Young had three hits and an RBI for Tampa Bay, which reached Clemens early to set the tone and bounce back from its series-opening loss Thursday.

In the process, Kazmir ended his winless streak at home that spanned 14 starts while keeping the 44-year-old Clemens winless on the road this season.

"That was icing on the cake," said Kazmir, who never had seen Clemens pitch in person. "He's a future Hall of Famer. We were able to put him in some tough situations."

Kazmir's last home victory came on July 3, 2006 vs. Boston. Against the Yankees, the lefthander (6-6) allowed an unearned run and four hits, walking four and striking out seven.

"This is a relief," Kazmir said. "It's been a long stretch. Hopefully, we can build off this."

Three relievers combined to work the final three frames, including Gary Glover, who picked up his second save with 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

"Five outs, tremendous job," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Glover was very sharp. He did a great job."

Kazmir's strikeout of Andy Phillips in the sixth, which stranded runners at first and second, was the 500th of his 83-start career.

"It came at the right time," Kazmir said.

Clemens (2-4) allowed a season-high five runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"He just couldn't get comfortable tonight and get in a good rhythm," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "He just wasn't good tonight."

In his last two starts, Clemens had allowed only two earned runs in 16 frames. On Friday, he left with one out in the sixth, the bases loaded and the Yankees trailing, 4-1.

Reliever Brian Bruney immediately allowed a sacrifice fly by Navarro, which staked Tampa Bay to a 5-1 advantage.

Johnny Damon's sacrifice fly pulled the Yankees within three runs in the seventh, but Young answered for Tampa Bay with a broken-bat RBI single off Scott Proctor in the bottom of the inning.

Back-to-back home runs by All-Star Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui closed the Yankees' deficit to 6-4, but the Devil Rays' shaky bullpen was able to hold on.

"Even going into the ninth, I felt we had a shot," Torre said. "The given is, we have to pitch. Giving up six runs is a lot. We didn't score enough and they did."

The Yankees entered the game trailing the first-place Boston Red Sox by 10 games in the American League East Division. New York hoped to build some momentum from Thursday's win and take advantage of its favorable schedule, which presents the next 28 games against teams with sub-.500 records.

However, Tampa Bay jumped on Clemens for three runs in the second. B.J. Upton, who was activated from the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day, lifted a sacrifice fly and Wilson added a two-run triple.

"I can't say enough about Clemens and what he's done in his career," said Wilson, whose triple was the first of his career. "It's something special to get a triple. It might be the only time I get to face him, and to get a hit is pretty cool."

"The second inning is what killed us," Clemens said. "I was aggressive in the zone early. We swung the bats well late. Hopefully, that will carry over into [Saturday]. Three runs, that's too much wiggle room for these guys."

Young, whose throwing error in the third allowed a run, had three of Tampa Bay's seven hits.