Matt Garza snaps skid as Tampa Bay Rays shut out Blue Jays

ST. PETERSBURG — Count Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston as another person puzzled by Matt Garza's record, considering how well the Rays right-hander has pitched at times — especially against Toronto.

Garza continued to be at his best against the Jays, throwing 71/3 shutout innings in the Rays' 4-0 victory in front of 22,705 at Tropicana Field. It snapped Garza's career-long nine-start winless streak, with the last win coming — of course — against Toronto on July 24.

Garza (8-10) boasts the lowest career ERA (1.70) of any pitcher against Toronto (minimum 50 innings) and is 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA this season.

"He's always pitched great against us," Gaston said. "I really don't understand his record, because with the way he pitches against us, he should win 15-20 games."

Garza doesn't read too much into how well he has fared against the Jays or what his record is overall. He said he simply cares about the Rays (76-73) getting the W, and they did for the third straight game.

"These last few days we've been playing like we were playing earlier in the year," Carl Crawford said. "We're getting base hits, pitching has been good, and we've just been doing everything like we normally do. Like I said, I hope this is something that can get us going into next year."

For the second straight night, the Rays put together a big inning against a Jays starter. This time, Tampa Bay batted around in a four-run first, forcing rookie left-hander Ricky Romero to throw 32 pitches.

That was more than enough for Garza, who stranded a runner in scoring position in three of the first six innings. He struck out 10 but also walked a career-high six.

Manager Joe Maddon said Garza had one of his best sliders this season, and Jays second baseman Aaron Hill said Garza got better as the game wore on.

"The last couple starts I've been on a roll," said Garza, who has five quality starts in his past nine. "I'm just trying to stick with that."

Maddon said Garza's record doesn't reflect the way he has pitched this season. Garza entered the game fourth in the AL in opposing batting average.

"He's got that sinker that he has a lot of confidence in and he loves throwing his fastball," Hill said. "I don't care what anybody says, the best pitch in baseball is a well-located fastball, and he pounded in and pounded in. He's got that hard slider. He's got everything. He just kept guys guessing today."

Garza got one out in the eighth but walked two before getting pulled. He said he wanted to finish, but a second straight sharp night by the bullpen (Russ Springer, Randy Choate and Dan Wheeler) helped close it out.

The Rays have played well the past few days but are close to being eliminated from postseason play.

"The unfortunate aspect of 2009 is two bad weeks," Maddon said. "And that really is the frustrating aspect. Because despite the bad April, we came back and then we just had a two-week run that wasn't very good recently, and that kind of overshadows a lot of good things that have been done."

Joe Smith can be reached at joesmith@sptimes.com