CLEVELAND -- Scott Kazmir's return to Cleveland was a short one as he was ejected during the second inning of Saturday's game.
The Oakland left-hander was tossed after issuing a walk to Jesus Aguilar with one out in the second. Before getting ejected, Kazmir appeared to say to home-plate umpire Jerry Layne. Layne said he warned him after the walk to Aguilar and Kazmir continued to argue. At that point, he was ejected.
"Bottom line, it was just pure balls and strikes," Layne said after the game to a pool reporter. "He was gesturing and arguing balls and strikes. That's automatic ejection. When I warned him, he didn't take any knowledge of that, and that's it."
Said Kazmir: "It ended up a pitch I thought was a strike, he didn't agree with it and before I knew it I was out of the game. I said, 'That ball is right there,' and the next thing I know, I'm out of the game. I just think that it's something that happens, a bad day for both of us. I'm going to make it a point to find out what happened."
Kazmir had taken exception to Layne's strike zone for most of the game. He was angry at Layne after walks to Michael Brantley in the first and Asdrubal Cabrera in the second.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin came out after Kazmir was ejected where Layne told him that Kazmir had been warned. After leaving the game, Kazmir threw his glove in the Oakland dugout and kicked a trash can down the stairs.
"I wanted to apologize to the trash can. It did nothing wrong. I was just frustrated," Kazmir said.
Kazmir spent last season with the Indians, where he went 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 29 starts. In his first Athletics' start on April 2, he pitched 7 1/3 innings of scoreless ball and struck out five in a 6-1 win over the Indians in Oakland.
Kazmir departed the game with Cleveland leading 1-0 and runners on first and third. Dan Otero came into the game and got a double-play ball to end the inning. Ortero ended up pitching 3 2/3 innings and allowing no runs as the Athletics would rally for a 6-2 win.
