Scott Kazmir’s sharp return lifts Angels, 10-1
Scott Kazmir was barely audible when speaking to reporters after his last outing before Saturday, so embarrassed was he by giving up a franchise-worst 13 runs.
Nearly a month later, the Angels pitcher didn’t need to utter one word to convey what his pitching said for him.
He’s back. And he might be better than ever as an Angel.
In his first start since spending nearly a month on the disabled list because of shoulder fatigue, Kazmir pitched five superb innings at Comerica Park during the Angels’ 10-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
The left-hander gave up three hits and one unearned run while receiving plenty of support from an offense that didn’t seem to miss Torii Hunter, who began serving a four-game suspension for an on-field tantrum the previous night.
“I had been champing at the bit to get out there,” said Kazmir, who struck out three and walked one. “Being able to go these five innings and work on all my pitches and get behind the ball like I did, it really felt great.”
Alberto Callaspo had three hits, Mike Napoli drove in three runs and Erick Aybar homered to lead a 13-hit attack as the Angels clinched their first series victory since winning two of three games from the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in mid-June.
But the biggest swing came from Kazmir (8-9), who was 0-4 with a 13.73 earned-run average in his previous four starts. He faced three batters over the minimum and continually attacked hitters with a livelier-than-usual fastball that still touched 93 mph in his final inning.
“That’s as good as we’ve seen it all year,” Manager Mike Scioscia said.
Scioscia said he and pitching coach Mike Butcher had put Kazmir on a five-inning limit for his first start since July 10 “to give him the focus of just worrying about getting those 15 outs, not worrying about saving anything for the seventh inning.”
That might have been a fortuitous decision considering how Kazmir said he felt even before making his 76th and final pitch.
“I’m not going to lie,” he said. “The fifth inning came around and I felt like I started to drag a little bit. I felt like I was starting to get a little fatigued. The next outing, I definitely feel like I’ll be a lot stronger endurance-wise.”
Kazmir attributed his improvement to a combination of rest and adjustments, including an improved slider.
“He attacked with all of his pitches and used his breaking stuff to put them away,” catcher Bobby Wilson said. “This was a good step to get him back where he was.”
Kazmir’s biggest mistake might have been a wild throw to first base after racing behind the mound to pick up leadoff hitter Austin Jackson’s first-inning grounder, which had deflected off the pitcher’s glove. Jackson took second base on the error and eventually scored on a groundout.
The run hardly mattered since Juan Rivera had already given the Angels the lead with a two-run single against Jeremy Bonderman (6-7), and every starting position player except Hideki Matsui and Peter Bourjos would go on to collect at least one hit.
A resurgent Kazmir could be instrumental to any hope the Angels have of making a postseason push over the season’s final two months.
“If he bridges that gap and pitches to his potential, you have a Cy Young candidate,” Scioscia said. “We haven’t seen that yet. We saw glimpses of it last year. But he’s still moving forward.”
ben.bolch@latimes.com
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