If Scott Kazmir continues pitching like he did today, the Indians front office will keep hearing that they won’t keep anybody worth their salt.
Kazmir (7.1 INN/3 H/5 SO) toyed with his former teammates while Corey Kluber (3.1 INN/8 H/2 SO/3 BB/5 ER) struggled with his control from the get-go. To make matters worse for Kluber, when he did throw a strike, the Oakland hitters had the perfect approach; bleeding him dry by going the other way. The big blow came in the third inning, when Kluber surrendered a two-run homer to Alberto Callaspo, which effectively blew the game open at 5-0.
Vinnie Pestano made his season debut in the sixth and gave up a run after consecutive doubles, which will no doubt sound the alarm for some people regardless of this being only game two. As will Carlos Santana booting a grounder, but Santana atoned for the ultimately meaningless gaffe by making a very nice barehanded play on the next batter.
But the story of the game was Kazmir, who had everything working and made the Tribe look positively feeble. The Tribe threatened just once against the lefty, but fortune shined on him today, as that lone chance ended up as a lineout to Callaspo.
Carlos Santana drove in Jason Kipnis for a window-dressing run in the ninth off of A’s reliever Dan Otero. But the good thing about today is that tonight means that they can still win the series, and no one will care that Kaz looked like Sandy Koufax.
W: Scott Kazmir (1-0); L: Corey Kluber (0-1)