Detroit Tigers (27-20) at Oakland Athletics (17-31), 3:35 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - Scott Kazmir eyes his first win in more than a month on Wednesday when the Oakland Athletics play the rubber match of a three-game set with the Detroit Tigers at the Coliseum.
Kazmir lost his second straight start and third consecutive decision on Friday to Tampa Bay, as he yielded three runs (2 earned) and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, dropping him to 2-3 on the year to go along with a 3.09 ERA.
The left-hander continued to struggle with his control and walked three batters in the loss to the Rays. He has now issued 22 free passes in 55 1/3 innings this season.
Kazmir has faced the Tigers 15 times and is 5-5 with a 3.51 ERA.
Detroit, meanwhile, will hand the ball to lefty Kyle Ryan, as he'll make a spot start in place of Alfredo Simon, who was placed on the bereavement list on Tuesday.
Simon departed from Oakland and traveled to the Dominican Republic late Tuesday to be with his father, who is "gravely ill," according to manager Brad Ausmus.
Ryan is 0-5 with a 4.67 ERA in nine starts in Toledo this season.
Detroit received a tremendous effort from David Price on Tuesday, as the former AL Cy Young Award winner tossed seven shutout innings after the Tigers scratched across an early unearned run in a 1-0 victory.
Price (4-1) scattered five hits and a walk and retired the last eight batters he faced before handing the game over to the bullpen.
"Any win is good," said Ausmus. "The pitching was outstanding. David Price did a nice job and the bullpen did a nice job behind him."
Three relievers worked the eighth, with Joakim Soria stranding a pair and working around a two-out double in the ninth to post his 14th save.
The A's fell to a league-worst 2-14 in one-run games and had their season-high three-game winning streak come to an end. They went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.
"I thought our approach was OK," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We had some opportunities...and didn't come up with a big hit."
Detroit won five of its seven matchups with the A's last season.