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Kazmir sets club strikeout record in dominant effort vs. A's

Aug 26, 2007 - 3:39 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- After hitting a roadblock in his last start, Scott Kazmir dazzled and etched his name into the record books.

Kazmir set a career high and a franchise record with 13 strikeouts in eight dominant innings and Jonny Gomes homered and drove in three runs as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays coasted to a 14-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.

Kazmir (10-8) had his worst start since the All-Star break against Boston on Monday, allowing six runs and seven hits while throwing 105 pitches in 5 2/3 innings of a 6-0 loss.

However, he kept his pitch count down and allowed just one hit through the first seven innings against the Athletics. The lefthander pounded the strike zone and needed just 73 pitches to get through seven frames.

"My goodness, from the first pitch, he was on his game," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "I love the strike-throwing. I love the aggressiveness. There were no foul balls. We were getting a lot of swing-and-misses instead of foul balls."

"I don't know what happened," Kazmir said. "I like that, though. I felt like I had everything going. Felt good, felt great. It felt like I could throw (the fastball) where I wanted it."

Carlos Pena, Brendan Harris and Akinori Iwamura each had three hits and B.J. Upton collected three RBI for Tampa Bay, which saw every starter except Carl Crawford record at least two hits en route to a season-high 20.

The Devil Rays have exploded for 26 runs over the last two games after managing more than three just twice in their previous seven contests.

"The guys were out to play for the second straight night," Maddon said. "We got a two-day speech (from hitting coach Steve Henderson). A two-game carryover. I wish we had recorded it, I really do."

Gomes provided the only offense Kazmir needed with a two-run homer in the second, his 14th of the season. Gomes also added an RBI triple in the sixth.

Kazmir started strong, striking out Oakland's first five batters before Mark Ellis doubled to right field. Kazmir then retired the next 16 batters until Mike Piazza led off the eighth with a two-base hit to right field.

Later in the inning, Kazmir lost his shutout bid as J.J. Furmaniak laced an RBI double to left and Kurt Suzuki added a two-out sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 9-2.

Kazmir got Shannon Stewart on a check-swing third strike for the final out of the eighth - his record-setting 13th strikeout - and walked off to a standing ovation.

"Kazmir's a good pitcher and he had a great night," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "His fastball was very live and he had pretty good control with it."

Kazmir surpassed his previous career high of 11 strikeouts set last season vs. Florida and broke the franchise record of 12 shared by James Shields, who reached the mark against Cleveland earlier this season, and Dan Wheeler, who accomplished the feat vs. Oakland in 1999.

The 22-year-old Kazmir attempted to record his second career complete game but was pulled after allowing a leadoff homer by rookie Jack Hannahan and a single by Nick Swisher in the ninth. He allowed two runs and five hits in eight-plus innings and did not walk a batter.

"When they're (close), I want to give them a chance to (finish)," Maddon said.

Tampa Bay built its lead to 3-0 in the third and added a single run in the fifth, two in the sixth, three in the seventh and five in the eighth en route to posting its first string of consecutive wins for the first time since July 29-30.

Oakland's Joe Blanton (11-9), who was undefeated in his previous four starts, allowed seven hits and four runs in five innings. He struck out five and walked one.

"Our starter didn't throw bad, but he got his pitch count up pretty high," Geren said. "Our bullpen had a tough time tonight. They couldn't stay away from the big inning. Turn the page and look forward to tomorrow."