Das Team » coming out of high school in the game

ST. LOUIS - For a brief second, Tampa Bay right-hander Jake Odorizzi could swear he was at Tropicana Field. Odorizzi, pitching 33 miles from his hometown of Highland, Illinois, allowed two runs over 5 2-3 innings and Yunel Escobar highlighted a five-run fifth inning with a two-run double to lead the Rays to a 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night. It was the Rays season-high sixth straight win. They have outscored the opposition 36-11 during the run. Odorizzi, pitching in St. Louis for the first time in his career, had as many as 500 supporters in the crowd of 43,623. The group made plenty of noise for its hometown hero when he left the game. "It was pretty loud when I came out," he said. "There were a lot of people standing up. I figured I had to tip my hat to them. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out from my town." Evan Longoria added a solo homer in the ninth for Tampa Bay. St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright, making his first appearance since starting for the NL in the All-Star game, gave up six runs, four earned, in 4 2-3 innings. Wainwright (12-5) was trying to become the first 13-game winner in the NL. He walked four and hit a batter in his second-shortest outing of the season. He allowed seven earned runs in 4 1-3 innings in a 9-4 loss to San Francisco on May 30. "That (fifth) inning was a train wreck," Wainwright said. "Its hard to explain things weird like that happening. Every now and then, you have a really crazy inning like that." Manager Mike Matheny agreed, "We just couldnt stop the bleeding," he said. "That inning, he just couldnt get through it." Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday hit solo home runs for the Cardinals. But the night belonged to Odorizzi, who gave up five hits, struck out eight and walked three in improving to 4-1 over his last seven starts. He has allowed three earned runs or less in 15 of 20 starts this season. He gave up a leadoff homer to Carpenter on his fifth pitch of the night and then settled down with four successive scoreless innings. "I was nervous in the first," he said. "But things got better." Odorizzi said his defence supplied the turning point. After giving up the homer, he walked Kolten Wong. But catcher Jose Molina threw out Wong stealing. Desmond Jennings then made a nice running catch in centre field. Odorizzi took over from there giving up two hits over the next four frames. "He was a little amped early," manager Joe Maddon said. "But then he started making some great pitches." Tampa Bay first baseman James Loney said Odorizzi displayed his character in battling back. "It just shows you what kind of guy he is," Loney said. The Rays won their seventh successive road game, one shy of tying the franchise record. Odorizzi outduelled Wainwright in a rematch of a June 10 game that the Cardinals won 1-0. The Rays sent 10 batters to the plate in chasing Wainwright in the fifth. Matt Joyce broke a 1-1 tie with a run-scoring double. Wainwright, who walked three, hit a batter and committed a costly error in the inning, walked Loney one batter later with the bases loaded. Escobar followed with a ground-rule double to push the lead to 5-1. Odorizzi, in his first major league at-bat, executed a perfect squeeze bunt in the second. Maddon was ejected in the third inning by home plate umpire Mark Ripperger. Maddon was arguing a called third strike on Ben Zobrist from the dugout. It was Maddons fourth ejection of the season and 36th with the Rays. "It was a misunderstanding," Maddon said. "Their pitcher started yelling at (our) dugout and Im yelling back at him and the umpire thinks Im yelling at the umpire and he kicks me out." Wainwright admitted to barking toward the Rays bench. But he said he was ready to continue pitching and was upset that Maddon continued to command Rippergers attention. "It was the first time I ever did that," Wainwright said. "I was ready to pitch and I thought it was time for us to move on and I said so." NOTES: Carpenters homer leading off the game was his second of the season and fourth of his career. It broke an 0-for-13 skid. ... Struggling St. Louis OF Allen Craig started consecutive games for the first time since July 5. ...Tampa Bay is making only its second trip to St. Louis. The Cardinals won two of three from the Rays May 16-18, 2008. ... Maddon batted Odorizzi eighth in the batting order to keep OF Kevin Kiermaier in the No. 9 hole. Kiermaier is 12 for 23 in his last eight games. ... Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (11-6, 3.13) will face RHP Alex Cobb (5-6, 4.08) in the finale of the two-game series Wednesday. ... Odorizzi is second among AL rookies with 124 strikeouts. Air Max Sale . The United States clinched the final berth into the Ford Worlds, March 28-April 6 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, on Saturday in Blaine, Minn. Cheap Air Max From China . Viewers in the Canadiens region can watch the game on TSN Habs at 7:30pm et/8:30pm at. https://www.airmaxchina.us/. - Chris Davis hit a two-run double, scoring Nelson Cruz in his Orioles debut in Baltimores 9-7 win over to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. Cheap Air Max For Sale . Goins is the early favourite to win the starting job at second base. Pillar is an outsider to secure a role off the bench, which becomes an even more difficult spot to win if the number of back up jobs is reduced by one. That happens if the Blue Jays decide to start the season with an eight man bullpen. Air Max From China .C. - Brent Sutter scored 1:32 into extra time as the Charlotte Checkers came from behind to defeat the visiting Abbotsford Heat 5-4 on Sunday in American Hockey League action. OAKLAND, Calif. -- If those independent league road trips werent humbling enough for Scott Kazmir, starting over from square one with his delivery and mechanics sure did the trick. As Kazmir looks back a couple of years now, a fresh $22 million, two-year contract with the Oakland Athletics in hand, that challenging time in his baseball career is all worthwhile. "The past couple years the organization has had a great team, a great fan base and that definitely swayed my decision a little bit," said Kazmir, who drew serious interest from several clubs. The two-time defending AL West champion As announced the deal Wednesday after Kazmir passed his physical. The addition of Kazmir fills a key rotation spot with a player plenty familiar with the division after his stint pitching for the Los Angeles Angels. As general manager Billy Beane, who also made three trades in the past three days to build his 2014 roster, isnt ready to pencil Kazmir into a particular spot in the clubs young rotation. That will be up to manager Bob Melvin. "The advantage of having as much good starting pitching as you can get is something that has helped make us successful," Beane said. "The more we looked at it, the more we thought we should jump on the opportunity to bring him in. Having five good starters, and I think in some respects we have more, puts us, puts the club in a position of strength." That was before the two-time All-Star was limited to one start in 2011 for the Angels before going on the disabled list with a lower back strain and being released. The 29-year-old Kazmir then spent the 2012 season with independent Sugar Land before bouncing back to go 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 29 sttarts and 158 innings for Cleveland this year.dddddddddddd "Pitching in the AL West, Im very comfortable there. I like pitching in the Oakland stadium," Kazmir said. "After my time in Los Angeles with the Angels, I kind of did a lot of self-evaluating and a lot of hard work getting to where I was last year." A stint in the Atlantic League with Sugar Land -- a mere 20 minutes from his Houston-area home -- provided Kazmir an ideal place to find himself again. "It was a great venue for me to get back into the game, get my feet wet again, face hitters. It surprised me, the challenge that was in that league, definitely surprised me and got me ready for this past season," Kazmir said. "It was a lot of fun. The road trips werent ideal to say the least." Kazmir went 9-15 in 2010 for Los Angeles and Beane recalls his early days among baseballs best lefties. Taking the long road back to the big leagues has only helped Kazmir get to this point. "Its probably a great learning experience. He was one of the top prospects coming out of high school in the game," Beane said. "It was probably a character-building experience for him as much as anything. Theres an appreciation in having made that climb back that will serve him well going forward." Despite all of the hours in the video room, tweaking his delivery and mechanics, Kazmir still considers himself much like his old hard-throwing self -- just with some added elements. "Stuff wise, I feel like Im the same pitcher," Kazmir said. "Im a lot more of a pitcher now than I was in my early years. I was more a guy who threw as hard as I could and got swings and misses." ' ' '