Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
In the final game Scott Kazmir pitched as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays — before a 2009 trade that sent him to the Angels and closed the first chapter of his major league life — Evan Longoria was his starting third baseman. Balls that went past Longoria on that Aug. 26 matchup would find their way to Gabe Kapler, who was the left fielder.
Kapler’s method of assisting his starter has changed in the years since. He called up his Triple-A option late Friday night to alert him that there was a good chance he would be needed the next day. The confirmation came in the morning, and though Kapler could not see Kazmir, the telephone call did not hide the 37-year-old’s smile.
Longoria’s method of assisting his starter has not changed. When Kazmir, after nearly five years that involved a sort of purgatory state before a launch of a comeback, got the ball for the first time in yet another chapter of a book that just won’t finish, Chris Taylor was the first victim, bouncing out to Longoria.
The Giants did not win, and Kazmir technically earned the 97th loss of his career. That did not matter as he searched for the right words and tried (successfully) to hold it all together in his first major league game in 1,703 days.
“Right now I’m just on cloud nine,” said the major league pitcher, who had stepped away to care for his family after last appearing in a game with these same Dodgers on Sept. 23, 2016. “Just to be able to be here now — it just doesn’t seem … it seems like a dream right now.”
He said he had not allowed it all to sink in, and maybe that would come later. It is understandable if Kazmir does not want to wake up. What would also be understandable is if the Giants want him to stay up.
Facing a powerful Dodgers lineup with nerves oozing out of him, Kazmir pitched a no-hitter to all hitters not named Max Muncy. The Los Angeles slugger parked a 423-foot bomb into the Cove in the first inning and singled in the fourth, representing the only blemishes in Kazmir’s four innings.
He was not fully built up and lasted 55 pitches, surrendering just the one run while working primarily with a fastball that he moved around and averaged nearly 92 mph with the offering, plus a changeup and slider that induced some soft contact.
Not bad for a lefty who was pitching in a pop-up independent league as recently as last year; who had gone long stretches without picking up a ball following his release from the Braves before the 2017 season. There were family health issues to deal with, and he became a father of two. He played catch around the 2019 All-Star break, and the magic in the moment rekindled a dream that should play well cinematically one day.
He signed with the Giants, impressed in camp, impressed in Sacramento and watched as Logan Webb was placed on the injured list.
“I wasn’t 100 percent sure I would have this game,” he said, slowly but surely finding his way through the sentence. “And when I did, this whole day has been a huge whirlwind to get me here and actually get out there and pitch.
“It was everything I thought it was going to be.”
What comes after your dream is realized — again — and there are 116 games remaining in the season?
Kapler, no longer an outfielder, did not announce anything. If Webb indeed will miss just one start, perhaps Kazmir becomes a lengthy lefty option; perhaps he stretches out more in Sacramento and awaits another call from Kapler.
“I thought he did a great job, and I told him as much. It was exactly as we expected,” the manager said following the Giants’ 6-3 loss at Oracle Park. “…I think it was a lot for him. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of adrenaline he brought to the game, and he was able to channel it.”
He looked comfortable on the mound. He looked comfortable against Albert Pujols, a matchup with a combined 78 years. He looked comfortable out-sprinting 23-year-old Gavin Lux to first base in the second inning. He looked like a major league pitcher, which is what he was and is.
Retired baseball players, he said, have asked him: Why? What keeps him going?
He has a couple young children who are in Houston at the moment and maybe can answer that one day.
“For me it just felt like I still have a lot more in the tank. I love the game of baseball,” Kazmir said over Zoom. “And with two kids now, I feel like I have that motivation to keep playing [so] maybe one day, they can remember and see me play in a big-league ballgame.”