• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Athletics-Rays Preview

May 20, 2009 - 4:35 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Oakland (13-22) at Tampa Bay (20-20), 7:08 p.m. EDT

Scott Kazmir, off to an unexpectedly poor start, seems to be pushing as he searches for answers on the mound. His home starts against the Oakland Athletics seem to have been much less frustrating.

Coming off his worst start of the year, Kazmir takes the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night against an Athletics club he has dominated at home.

Tampa Bay (20-21) had a four-game winning streak snapped in the second game of this four-game series, losing 4-1 in 11 innings to Oakland (14-22) despite getting 8 1-3 shutout innings from starting pitcher James Shields.

The Rays have gotten plenty of strong efforts from Kazmir (4-3, 6.97 ERA) in recent years, but the two-time All-Star has not been able to settle down this season. The left-hander was terrible in his last outing, giving up seven runs and 10 hits in 3 1-3 innings before Tampa Bay rallied to beat Cleveland 8-7 on Friday night.

Kazmir is 2-3 with an 8.79 ERA in six starts since winning his first two.

"I'm just in a funk right now, and I'm going to get out of it," he said.

A matchup with Oakland may help get Kazmir back on track. He's 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts against the A's at Tampa Bay, and 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA in 12 career starts against them.

Oakland's starters have had their own problems, giving up 31 runs - 23 earned - in 13 innings during a four-game losing streak before Josh Outman scattered three hits in six shutout innings Tuesday.

Oakland will now turn to rookie left-hander Brett Anderson (0-4, 6.03), who has struggled all season. He had the shortest outing of his career Friday night, allowing nine runs - three earned - and six hits in 3 1-3 innings as Oakland lost 14-1 to Detroit.

This will be his first appearance against Tampa Bay, which went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position Tuesday after averaging 8.0 runs during its winning streak.

Willy Aybar hit a solo homer for the Rays in the bottom of the 11th after the A's scored four runs in the top of the inning as Tampa Bay failed in its attempt to move above .500 for the first time since it was 4-3. Aybar hit his first homer of the season after connecting for a career-high 10 last year.

Rays catcher Dioner Navarro, batting just .179, has missed two straight games due to pinkeye. His status for Wednesday's game is uncertain.

Oakland catcher Kurt Suzuki went 0 for 3 and is 1 for 10 in his last three games, lowering his average from .331 to .313. He's 1 for 10 with three strikeouts against Kazmir.

Matt Holliday, meanwhile, had a big game for the A's, hitting a three-run homer in the 11th.

"We need to start winning games because it's been frustrating," Holliday said after the A's won for just the fifth time in 15 games.

Holliday is batting .478 (11 for 23) in his last seven games.