Kaz's First Start Since the DL

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Here is the stat line for Scott Kazmir's return to the Rays rotation. Five innings, two runs, four hits, one walk, five strikeouts, and 92 pitches. 

Kazmir started off pretty slow and rough last night. Allowing two runs in his three two innings. It could have been much worse. There was a stretch during the second inning where the Marlins tee'd off on him, hitting three straight balls on the buttons. Luckily only one of them was damaging, as it was a double, but it didn't lead to any runs.

After the second inning, however, he looked pretty decent, after the home run ball to Carroll (the ninth hitter in the Marlins lineup) he allowed only one more hit and struck out four of his five after.

The turning point in the game for Kazmir was whenever Hanley Rameriz, the hottest hitter for the Marlins who had constantly been clutch this whole series, came up to the plate with one man on and no outs after Kazmir had just given up a home run.

First pitch swinging Rameriz fouls out to Pena and from then on everything  just seemed to roll. 

Another good sign is that Kazmir threw 61 strikes, which is about two-thirds of his pitches. If he can keep this up he can go deeper into the ball games than he is normally accustomed too. We will get a better gage on this in his next start when Joe Maddon might let him pitch more than 92 pitches. 

For this outing I give Kazmir a B-, he could've done better, but a pretty solid first start coming off of the DL. The Rays really need him to turn it around if they want any chance of pushing for a playoff spot.  

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