• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Garza, red-hot Rays look to complete sweep of Royals

Jul 7, 2008 - 1:13 PM Kansas City (39-50) at Tampa Bay (55-32) 12:40 p.m. EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Matt Garza hopes to complete a dominant four-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals when he takes the hill for the Tampa Bay Rays in the series finale Monday.

Tampa Bay has outscored Kansas City, 23-4, over the first three games, which included a 9-2 triumph on Sunday.

The series has continued the Rays' amazing stretch of play at home. Tampa Bay, which has won seven straight games overall, is 32-6 in its last 38 games at Tropicana Field.

Garza (7-4, 3.47 ERA) has won his last two starts and is 3-1 with a 1.55 ERA in his last four outings. The righthander allowed one unearned run and five hits over seven innings during the Rays' 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox last Tuesday.

He will be opposed by Gil Meche (6-9, 4.74), who will take the mound for the Royals.

Meche had a personal three-game winning streak snapped in his last outing, where he surrendered five runs - four earned - and nine hits over six innings. The righthander walked two and failed to strike out a batter in Kansas City's 5-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.

Meche is 1-4 with a 5.65 ERA in eight career starts against Tampa Bay.