Kaz pitches better than he hits

By ROGER MOONEY
rmooney@bradenton.com
SARASOTA — The worst part of Scott Kazmir’s day was his at-bat. He struck out.

“It’s kind of tough to be serious out there with everybody laughing in the dugout and (Reds pitcher Bronson) Arroyo is out there smiling,” Kazmir said.

The Rays lefty, who allowed a run in four innings and earned the victory in the Rays 3-1 win, borrowed two bats from B.J. Upton, which he carried to Ed Smith Stadium inside sanitary socks.

“That was the problem,” Kazmir joked.

There was no problem with his pitching.

Kazmir allowed five hits and struck out three.

“He had much better tempo and rhythm from our angle, the ball was down consistently with good carry to it,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “Better slider. I thought he was excellent.”

Kazmir, whose success this season depends on his ability to regain his slider, threw 10 against the Reds and was pleased with each.

“A couple of them were good,” Kazmir said. “Feels like I’m having a hard time with righties getting a good slider with the righties. Lefties, it feels good. But righties, it kind of feels like I’m cutting it off a little bit.”

He also used a slide-step with runners on base, something he hasn’t done in the past, but something he wants do more.

“Everything was so compact, and everything was just the way I wanted,” Kazmir said. “And when I took the high leg kick everything kind of got out of rhythm a little bit and my arm wasn’t as high or ready as I wanted it to be. That’s something to work on. But I was kind of using the slide step a little more to get a feel for it and know what I was doing.”

Hit Show
The heart of the Rays order, Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena and Pat Burrell combined to drive in a pair of runs in the first inning.

Actually, the production started after Longoria lined into a double play.

With Carl Crawford on second after stealing the base, Pena pulled an RBI double down the first base line.

Burrell followed with an RBI double.

That’s the kind of first inning production the Rays want from their 3, 4 and 5 hitters.

Aybar goes yard
Willy Aybar, playing his first game since rejoining the team after the Dominican Republic’s embarrassing ouster from the World Baseball classic, homered to right field in the fourth inning. It was his first home run and first RBI of the spring.