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Hello, Niemann: Rays blank A's

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 10, 2009

Updated: 07/10/2009 10:52 pm

When it comes to pure pitching, it's difficult to say Jeff Niemann has been the Rays' best starter this season. But in the past two months, he has been about their most effective.

Whether he throws a shutout or picks up a win with help from the kind of run support that would make James Shields weep, Niemann's presence on the mound has essentially equaled a Rays win lately.

There were no flukes or luck involved in his latest victory Friday night. Niemann carved up the A's for his second complete-game shutout of the year as the Rays rolled 6-0 for their fourth consecutive win.

The big fella might not have been as flat-out dominant as he was in his complete-game, two-hit, nine-strikeout whitewash of the Royals on June 3, but that's pretty much splitting hairs. This was a high-end performance for the former first-round pick, who leads Rays pitchers in wins (8-4) and has gone 6-1 with a 2.55 ERA in his last 10 starts.

"He was in total command the whole way," said Rays manager Joe Maddon.

Niemann didn't show the slightest sign of rust despite being skipped the last time through the Rays' rotation - one of the downsides of serving as the fifth starter (in name if not production).

That break came even though he had turned in one of his best outings of the season his previous time out, allowing one run in 71/3 innings at Toronto early last week. But the three-inning relief appearance he made at Texas in the interim apparently was enough to keep him on track.

Niemann hammered away at the strike zone all night, throwing 82 of his 118 pitches for strikes. Most importantly, he was able to pound them in early and stay ahead of A's hitters in counts throughout the game.

"Strike one. That was our game-plan before the game," said catcher Dioner Navarro. "Don't worry about all the scouting reports and all that stuff, just go strike one and we'll start working from there. That's what he did - he got ahead of, if I remember, almost everybody. He did a great job."

It isn't always pretty when he takes the mound, but Niemann has found a way to make it work this season. The Rays are 12-4 when he starts, even though he has accumulated just six quality starts - one more than the departed Andy Sonnanstine and well behind Shields and Matt Garza.

But as he has racked up wins and lowered his ERA to 3.73 - by far his best number all season - the confidence has grown. And when it comes to pitching deep into the game like he did Friday, he was able to draw upon his experience from six weeks earlier - a luxury most rookies don't have.

"It helps out, because once you've been there you kind of know what it's like to be out there, because it's just different in those later innings," Niemann said.

Also different was the standing ovation Niemann got as he came back onto the field to open the ninth. He had thrown 101 pitches through eight innings, and although Maddon said there was no doubt he would let his pitcher open the final inning, he wouldn't let him stay out there indefinitely.

Things got dicey when Kurt Suzuki singled after two quick outs and Niemann followed it with a walk of the horribly slumping Jason Giambi. The Rays thought they had the last out when Jason Bartlett tried to improvise on a ball in the hole by Ryan Sweeney and throw to third for the force, but Suzuki was safe. With Niemann's pitch count rising - his final total tied the most by a Ray this year - he finally retired Mark Ellis on a groundout to wrap it up.

"He got a little bit quick there at the end after Suzuki got the base hit," Maddon said. "You could see he started to speed up a bit because he wanted to get this thing over with, but that's understandable."

Though the run support wasn't quite as overwhelming as it has been in some of his starts, Niemann got more than enough help Friday as the Rays sprinkled runs across several innings.

The loudest were solo homers by Carlos Pena (his major-league-leading 24th) leading off the fourth and Evan Longoria (his first since June 17 at Colorado) to open the seventh. But the Rays also scored on a groundout (B.J. Upton in the first) and a wild pitch (Navarro in the sixth) as they kept building a cushion.

Ultimately, though, the spotlight was Niemann's. For a guy who didn't know his roster spot was secure until the final day of spring training, Niemann has more than earned his keep in the first half.

"It's good, but it's only halfway through," he said. "We've still got another 2 1/2 months, three months left, so you can't get too happy or content with anything."

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