Houston Astros: Scott Kazmir named A.L. Pitcher of the Month for July

It was recently announced that recently acquired Houston Astros southpaw, Scott Kazmir was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for July according to Major League Baseball’s official Twitter handle.In case you missed it, the Houston-native was picked up from the Oakland Athletics for prospects Jacob Nottingham and Daniel Mengden on July 23 to help give this young staff an extra boost.

Kazmir made his much-anticipated debut for his hometown team against the defending American League Champions Kansas City Royals and held them to just three hits with as many strikeouts across seven innings of work.

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The 31-year-old hurler exited the game to a standing ovation and finished the month of July with only one earned run given up. That sounds like it’s almost impossible to do, but Clayton Kershaw and Kazmir were absolutely lights out during the hottest month of the year.

As displayed in the tweet that was embedded in the beginning of this article, Kazmir finished July with a 2-0 record in five starts, one earned run, 24/6 K/BB ratio, 15 hits allowed, 0.26 ERA and a 0.62 WHIP through 34 innings of work.

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Those numbers were good enough to bump his overall numbers to a 6-5 record, 2.10 ERA, 109/34 K/BB ratio and a second career-low of 29 earned runs. Kazmir has held opposing teams to under 25+ earned runs in two short seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays back in 2008 where he only made eight starts under current Chicago Cubs skipper, Joe Maddon.

He’s expected to pick up the start on Wednesday against Nick Martinez and the Texas Rangers. Texas had the upper hand in last night’s contest despite a Jason Castro grand slam as the third-place club walked away with the 12-9 victory.

The Astros still hold a three-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels while the Rangers trail by seven.

Congratulations to Houston’s own Scott Kazmir for claiming this monthly honor.

Next: Houston Astros: Lance McCullers to Triple-A, Dan Straily recalled