Kazmir measures up

RAYS 5, RED SOX 2: The rookie outduels Pedro Martinez with six dominating innings.

BOSTON - Midway through his warmup tosses before the fifth inning Tuesday, Scott Kazmir stepped back off the rubber and realized what was going on.

"I kind of stopped about halfway through and I was like, "Is this really happening?' " Kazmir said. "I mean, "Am I really pitching in Fenway against Pedro? It's incredible.' "

Tampa Bay's rookie left-hander didn't just pitch against Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox on Tuesday, he beat them as the Rays scored a 5-2 win.

Six shutout innings.

Nine strikeouts.

And one impressive victory.

"Wow," Kazmir said. "I couldn't expect anything more than what happened tonight."

For any pitcher to come in and throttle the top-scoring team in the majors in the midst of a September pennant race before a throbbing Fenway Park sold-out crowd is an accomplishment.

For it to be a 20-year-old who was making his fourth major-league start, who was pitching in the Class A Florida State League two months ago and the Double-A Southern League four weeks ago, who admits it wasn't that long ago he was sitting home watching Red Sox stars such as Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon on TV, it was downright dazzling.

"He did himself proud tonight," Rays manager Lou Piniella said. "Pitching not only in Fenway but against a really good Red Sox team, against a legend out there on the mound in Pedro, it was very impressive to see him collect himself the way he did and go out and compete and have some fun doing it."

Handed a 1-0 lead after Carl Crawford's fourth leadoff homer of the season, Kazmir worked his way through the first two innings, getting out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the second thanks to a nifty first-to-home double play started by Tino Martinez, and improved as the game went on.

"Once he got out of that inning he got better and better as the game progressed," Piniella said. "It's refreshing to see a young man compete like that."

Relying on a fastball that routinely hit 95 mph, occasionally 96, and a slider that had extra bite, Kazmir got on a roll. He struck out Gabe Kapler, Damon and Mark Bellhorn in the third, then Ramirez and David Ortiz to start the fourth, tying a Rays team record with five straight strikeouts. He finished six innings allowing three hits and walking three.

"I was very impressed with how he was able to throw that breaking ball," Damon said. "For someone to make me look that silly ... "

The rest of the Rays did enough to score a rare victory against Martinez, against whom they had not won in 14 meetings going back to May 6, 2000. Plus, Martinez was 12-2 in his past 14 decisions this season and 9-1 at Fenway.

Rhode Islander Rocco Baldelli homered in the third to make it 2-0, and the Rays tacked on two in the seventh and another in the eighth against a ragged Boston bullpen. The five walks they drew off Martinez were the most he allowed since April 2003. They also made several big plays, Kazmir teaming with shortstop Julio Lugo to pick Kevin Millar off second in the fifth, Martinez starting another key double play in the sixth.

The Sox scored twice in the eighth off Travis Harper, but Danys Baez worked the ninth for his 27th save and 16th straight, the longest active streak in the majors.

"You have to tip your cap and give credit to the little rookie that came out and pitched well and battled," Pedro Martinez said. To make it easier for Kazmir, the prized prospect acquired from the Mets for Victor Zambrano, the Rays kept it simple. They didn't give him any scouting reports on the Boston hitters and excluded him from the usual pregame meeting with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez and catcher Toby Hall, telling him to pitch his game.

Kazmir knew enough anyway.

"It felt like every hitter on deck, you just didn't want to pitch around that guy to get to the next guy because every single one of them was an All-Star hitter it seemed like," he said.

Kazmir, whose confidence outweighs his youth and inexperience, insisted he wouldn't be intimidated by the situation. As it turned out, he relished it - the competition, the crowd, the cutting comments he heard from the Fenway faithful.

"Unbelievable," Kazmir said. "It was unreal. The atmosphere was indescribable. I had a lot of fun. I really did. It was awesome."