By: Tyler Ward
When Angels pitcher Scott Kazmir woke up Saturday morning, I'm sure he didn't envision a start like the one he had later that night. Kazmir had the worst outing of his career against the A's, giving up thirteen hits and eleven earned runs in five innings. Not only was this hios worst outing ever, but it was also the worst in Angels history. Speaking of history, Kazmir made it Saturday, becoming one of few pitchers to have that type of outing. If he had surrendered one more run, he would have tied Mike Oquist for the worst five inning performance in the last 50 years. In 1998, Oquist, an A's pitcher at the time, gave up 14 earned runs against the Yankees in five innings.
Kazmir allowed eight runs in the in the third inning and gave up five more in the fifth, including back-to-back home runs from Coco Crisp and Daric Barton.
In the third, Kazmir threw the first of his two wild pitches, which allowed Rajai Davis to score. Coco Crisp then drove in Cliff Pennington on an RBI single to give them a two-run lead. Rosales singled shortly after that, driving in Daric Barton. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Kazmir walked Ryan Sweeney to give him an RBI after Kevin Kouzmanoff scored. In his second at-bat of the inning, Davis hit a grand slam to cap the inning off and hit his first slam since 2008.
Two innings later, Davis came up to bat again and drove in Rosales to give him five RBI for the game. Crisp then hit a three-run homer and Barton followed that up with a solo shot to give the A's a 13-0 lead. After the inning, Kazmir was subbed out for relief pitcher, Scott Shields, who pitched a scoreless inning in relief.
Kazmir finished the game with five innings pitched, thirteen hits, two strikeouts, three walks, and eleven earned runs. Rajai Davis, the stud of the game, finished 4-for-5 with one home run and five runs batted in.
The A's (42-46) have been struggling offensively in their last 19 games, scoring only 7 runs in that span. Their pitcher tonight, Ben Sheets, got his fourth win of the season after finally receiving some run support. Sheets has received the fourth-worst run support in the American League this year, while losing eight games in the process.
Entering the game, Sheets had given up a league-leading 54 extra base hits, but only gave up one in the 15-1 win. He pitched a solid six innings, while only giving up two hits and striking out four. He did not allow a run in the game.
The Angels' Cory Aldridge tripled to left in the 8th for his first MLB hit, while driving in Brandon Wood to give the Angels their lone run of the game.
Oakland's Gabe Gross hit a two-run double to left in the 8th, scoring Powell and Rosales to solidify their domination of the Angels.
