Kazmir lights up radar gun during 10-K gem

OAKLAND -- Though Scott Kazmir's night was perhaps overshadowed by monstrous big league debuts from a pair of teammates, Wednesday's performance by the A's lefty was not to be ignored.

When rookies Mark Canha and Tyler Ladendorf weren't pounding out hits and notching one of their six combined RBIs, Kazmir was busy mowing down Rangers batters in succession, allowing just one hit to leadoff man Leonys Martin that didn't even lead the infield, and fanning 10.

It was his 23rd career game of at least 10 strikeouts.

"When he's throwing that hard," said manager Bob Melvin, "you better guess right."

From the start, Kazmir was consistently hitting 94 mph, a tick or two above his average velocity.

"Felt like everything was working well to where I could really pump it up if I needed to and still be under control," he said. "That's what I did today, and it was earlier than I thought. It felt good early on, and as soon as I saw I was getting on the fastball, I stuck with it."

After the A's provided him five runs in a lengthy third inning, Kazmir experienced back tightness in the fourth, leading to a visit from a team trainer. Kazmir walked his next batter, prompting more speculation, but came back to strike out Ryan Rua on three pitches.

Kazmir went straight for the clubhouse to stretch out his back and returned to even more runs.

"I'll take that any day," he said.