Phillies 6 - 8 Athletics
Final/10
  for this game

Struggling Kazmir tries to pitch A's to series win over Phils

Sep 21, 2014 - 2:22 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Scott Kazmir will try to get himself on track and keep the Oakland Athletics front-running the wild card race on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Kazmir has struggled to an 0-4 mark and 8.22 earned run average over his last five starts and is coming off a 6-3 setback to Texas on Tuesday. The left- hander gave up six runs -- four earned -- on nine hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings.

It was the third time in five starts he failed to go past five innings and the 30-year-old has fallen to 14-9 on the year with a 3.44 ERA.

Kazmir has split two previous starts against the Phillies with a 5.40 ERA.

Oakland's struggles continued on Saturday with a 3-0 setback to Philadelphia. It was the Athletics' seventh loss in 10 games and they lead the Kansas City Royals by only a half-game for the first wild card spot.

The Seattle Mariners are also in play at a half-game behind the Royals for the second extra playoff berth.

"I think you can sit here and talk all day long about the things we haven't been doing well," said A's catcher Derek Norris, "But one thing that we do well is, when we think we've hit rock bottom, we've come back with a vengeance. We control our own destiny."

Still, the A's managed just four hits in the game, all off Phillies starter Jerome Williams, who hurled seven scoreless innings.

In the process, Williams became the first pitcher to beat one team while with three different clubs in the same season. He earned a win over Oakland on April 26 as a reliever for Houston and also pitched six solid innings as a starter for Texas to win July 25.

"That is crazy," Williams said. "For one, you would never think that you would face the same team that much."

Freddy Galvis hit a two-run homer for Philadelphia, which had lost five of six coming in.

A.J. Burnett starts for the Phillies having won just twice in his past 11 decisions. He is tied for the lead in the majors with a career-high 17 losses (8-17, 4.40 ERA) and is the first Phillies hurler to lose that many games in a season since Mark Leiter dropped 17 in 1997.

The 37-year-old Burnett saw his struggles continue in a 5-4 loss to San Diego on Tuesday as he gave up five runs -- four earned -- on eight hits and four walks over 5 2/3 innings.

The righty is 5-4 with a 3.82 ERA in 11 career meetings with Oakland.

The Phils and A's are meeting for the first time since Philadelphia won two of three games at home from June 24-26, 2011.






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