Garza challenges Brazelton's record, Tampa Bay Rays rout Boston Red Sox

May 1, 1:04 PMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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Longo consoled Garza after losing the no-no AP/Chris O'Meara

Matt Garza stole the show at Tropicana Field last night, throwing six perfect innings before Jacoby Ellsbury’s infield single ended his run at history. Garza was flat-out dominant, striking out 10 in 7.2 innings. Ellsbury’s infield single was the only hit of the night for Boston, and he was eliminated on a double play immediately after reaching.

Matt came nine outs away from a perfect game, the closest a Ray has yet to come. The only Rays’ pitcher to come closer to a no-hitter was Dewon Brazelton, who was four outs away against the Marlins on June 25, 2004 before Mike Lowell broke it up with a double. Still, Garza’s performance last night was easily one of the most impressive in Rays’ history.

Garza actually entered the game suffering from control problems, having walked a total of nine batters in his last two starts, both losses. Control was not a problem in this one, as Garza absolutely owned the strike zone. How about 75 of 108 pitches for strikes? The big righty allowed only one walk and it didn’t come until the seventh inning. Unfortunately for Matt, he couldn’t quite complete the perfecto or the no-no, but still left to a very satisfying standing ovation with two outs in the eighth inning. His career record is now 5-1 against the Red Sox with a 2.85 ERA.

Somewhat overshadowed by Garza’s performance were a few other interesting side notes from the game. First of all, Michel Hernandez hit his first career home run off of Josh Beckett in the fourth inning. Hernandez, whose career at-bats finally passed his age of 30 last night, had four hits last night, bringing his career total to 10.

"He had a good month tonight" – Joe Maddon on Michel Hernandez.

Another interesting moment was Terry Francona’s unique lineup juggling. After Aki’s ground-rule double off Javier Lopez brought home Burrell and Gross to make the score 12-0, Francona had seen enough. In order to save his bullpen, he brought in outfielder Jonathan Van Every to pitch. Ok, we’ve seen this before – Nick Swisher pitched for the Yankees at the Trop just a couple of weeks ago. This time, though, Francona kept Lopez in the game, sending the left-handed pitcher out to play right field. I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever seen this. I’ve seen pitchers pinch-hit and even pinch-run, but I’ve never seen a pitcher play the outfield while an outfielder pitched. What a night!

Garza led the Rays to a great win on Thursday, but the Rays need to string a few W’s together to get back into the AL East race. Remember the Rays’ 15-5 win over the Yankees on Opening Night? I hate to be Mr. Buzz Killington here, but after that amazing performance, the Rays dropped the remaining two games of that series. Hopefully last night’s rout will truly be the jumpstart the Rays have been searching for in 2009.

Friday night’s game will feature a pitching matchup of Andy Sonnanstine vs. Justin Masterson. The Rays will be gunning for their first back-to-back wins since April 12-13.

What was a better performance – Garza last night, or Brazelton’s 7.2 no-hit innings in ’04? Let me know in a comment.

Jason Bartlett hits: 29

Jason Bartlett groundball singles between short and third: 7

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