Recap: Texas vs. Tampa Bay
Sports Network | August 16, 2008
Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Matt Garza dominated the powerful Rangers lineup, striking out nine in a two-hit shutout as Tampa Bay routed Texas 7-0 in the opener of a three-game set.
Garza (10-7) took a no-hitter into the sixth, and allowed just two singles and two walks as he went the distance on 119 pitches while striking out nine. Willy Aybar, Carlos Pena, Eric Hinske and Gabe Gross all homered for the Rays, who won their third straight and their sixth in seven games.
The Rays stretched their lead in the AL East to 3 1/2 games over the Red Sox, who had their Friday night game against the Blue Jays in Boston rained out.
Kevin Millwood (6-7) did not last long in his return from the disabled list. Millwood gave up five runs on 10 hits with seven strikeouts and a walk, and surrendered all four Tampa homers in 4 2/3 innings. He had been sidelined since July 24 with a strained right groin. Millwood was on the shelf from May 11-28 with the same ailment.
Just three days after exploding for 17 runs in a loss to the Red Sox, the Rangers were shut out for the second straight game, and the fourth time in eight games.
Tampa struck for one run in the fourth and four more in the fifth, all on the long ball.
Aybar pulled Millwood's first pitch in the fourth inning out down the line in right. The homer, his seventh, gave Tampa the 1-0 edge.
The Rays exploded for three more round-trippers in the fifth. After B.J. Upton fanned to start the frame, Pena belted a 3-2 offering out to right, his 24th of the season. Cliff Floyd followed with a double to deep left-center and, two batters later, Hinske's blast to center made it 4-0 Rays.
Gross made it back-to-back homers on his shot to left-center, giving Tampa Bay a five-run lead on his 10th home run of the season.
Pena walked to lead off the seventh, and Floyd doubled him in to cap the scoring for the Rays.
Garza, meanwhile, cruised. The Tampa right-hander retired 15 in a row from the first to sixth innings, and didn't allow a hit until Ian Kinsler's shallow pop to center that bounced off the glove of Justin Ruggiano with two outs in the sixth. Josh Hamilton's leadoff single in the seventh was the only other base hit allowed by Garza.
A one-out walk to Gerald Laird in the eighth was quickly erased when Ramon Vazquez grounded into a double play, and Garza retired the side in order in the ninth.
It was the fourth four-homer game of season for Rays...Garza has two career shutouts. The other came on July 29 against Toronto...The Rays left nine runners on base...Before being shut out four times in these last eight games, the Rangers had only been blanked once in their first 115 games...Texas right fielder Marlon Byrd hyperextended his left elbow while trying to catch Aybar's home run, and left the game. He is listed as day-to-day.
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