Tampa Bay Rays news and notes

The dish

Rays vs. Tigers

When/where: 7:10 tonight; Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg

TV/radio: Sun Sports; 620-AM, 680-AM (Spanish)

Probable pitchers:

Rays: RHP Matt Garza (10-5, 4.36)

Tigers: RHP Max Scherzer (7-7, 4.43)

Tickets: From $10-210, available at Tropicana Field ticket office, all Ticketmaster outlets and raysbaseball.com.

Watch for …

Tough task: Garza has never beaten the Tigers in six career starts, going 0-4 with a 5.85 ERA, and hasn't fared well against the AL Central (4-15, 4.97 in 26 starts). He gave up seven runs in his last start and tied a career high with four homers allowed.

Rough road: Scherzer has won three of his past four starts, pitching seven shutout innings against the Rangers his last time out. He has struggled on the road this season, going 1-5 with a 5.61 ERA in nine starts.

Key matchups

Tigers vs. Garza

Johnny Damon2-for-16

Miguel Cabrera1-for-6, HR

Gerald Laird2-for-5

Rays vs. Scherzer

Matt Joyce0-for-3

On deck

Tuesday: vs. Tigers, 7:10, Sun Sports. Rays — James Shields (8-9, 4.90); Tigers — Justin Verlander (12-5, 3.76)

Wednesday: vs. Tigers, 7:10, Sun Sports. Rays — Jeff Niemann (8-3, 2.95); Tigers — Rick Porcello (4-8, 5.55)

Thursday: vs. Tigers, 12:10, Sun Sports. Rays — David Price (13-5, 2.90); Tigers — Jeremy Bonderman (5-6, 5.05)

Quote of the day

"I think we play well against good teams, so I'm really looking forward to it. The big concept is playing better at home overall; if we do that, we'll put ourselves in good position."

Manager Joe Maddon on the upcoming 11-game homestand against three playoff contenders, the Tigers, Yankees and Twins.

Idea of the day

With the 18-game losing streak in Cleveland over, manager Joe Maddon was asked if he kept the scorecard from Saturday's win as a memento. "That's a great idea," he said. "Or put that in the Cleveland Hall of Fame up here."

Number of the day

10-1 Rays record when C John Jaso gets two or more hits in a game.