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Kazmir stymies Rangers as Rays cruise

Jun 7, 2008 - 5:15 AM By Jay Miller PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Scott Kazmir picked up in June where he left off in May, notching his sixth consecutive win Friday as the Tampa Bay Rays posted a 12-4 triumph over the Texas Rangers.

Kazmir allowed two runs and six hits in a season-high eight innings to extend his career-best winning streak. His five wins in May earned the 24-year-old lefthander American League Pitcher of the Month honors, making him the first Rays pitcher to receive that distinction.

Kazmir held opponents to a major league-low .172 batting average in May and ranked second with a 1.22 ERA. The lefthander struck out six without issuing a walk Friday, retiring 19 of the last 22 batters he faced.

"Everything was working tonight," Kazmir said. "I got ahead of hitters, and that was the key. I used all of my pitches and kind of mixed it up."

"It was all about Kaz tonight," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "The way he pitched tonight against that club was spectacular. You look at that score and you think we really broke out of it tonight, but we did that because of his pitching."

Texas struck first as Milton Bradley led off the second inning with a double, moved to third on an infield single by David Murphy and scored on Marlon Byrd's sacrifice fly to center field.

Vicente Padilla, making his first start since being placed on the bereavement list on June 2, held the Rays to one hit - Jason Bartlett's two-out single in the third - through the first four innings. In the fifth, however, Evan Longoria jumped on an 0-1 offering and launched it high and deep to left field for a solo home run to tie the contest at 1-1.

"When it left, it was zero gravity... It was just going to keep going," Maddon said. "It was crushed."

Longoria's shot landed in the club level of stadium, making the rookie slugger and Mark McGwire (July 5, 1997) the only two visiting players to hit a ball into the upper deck.

"It was square off the barrel, pretty much as hard as I can swing," Longoria said of the 442-foot blast. "That's as good as I can hit a ball."

Padilla again was reached for a homer in the sixth, when B.J. Upton lifted an 0-1 offering over the right-center field wall for a 2-1 lead. The righthander subsequently suffered control problems with a pair of walks and two wild pitches - the second of which allowed Cliff Floyd to score from third for a 3-1 advantage.

"Padilla was going well, then he gave up the two homers and the wild pitches," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "We just couldn't stop them."

Tampa Bay took advantage of Texas' bullpen when Upton walked to lead off the eighth and stole both second and third before coming home on a sacrifice fly by Eric Hinske. Dioner Navarro put the game out of reach with a two-run homer, making it 6-1.

The Rays added six unearned runs in the ninth thanks to errors by first baseman Chris Shelton and shortstop Ramon Vazquez. Carl Crawford hammered an RBI triple, Hinske drilled a two-run homer to right and Bartlett slapped a two-run single off Rangers reliever Kameron Loe.