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Garza, Rays blank Blue Jays

Jul 30, 2008 - 3:24 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- On a night the Tampa Bay Rays needed a dazzling start from Matt Garza, he delivered.

Garza threw a five-hitter for his first career shutout and outdueled Roy Halladay to lead the Rays to a 3-0 triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.

"I was just keeping them off-balance, working them in and out with my fastball," Garza said. "I was able to locate my slider, curveball and changeup and that was huge. I was able to keep them uncomfortable in the box."

Eric Hinske belted a solo home run - the 100th of his career - in the third and rookie Evan Longoria laced a two-run triple in the eighth for the Rays, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

"A homer is a homer, whether it's against a team you played for or any other team," said Hinske, who played in Toronto from 2002-06. "It's a privilege to hit it off Roy Halladay. He's such a good pitcher and I played with him for so long. I know what he's capable of and it made me feel good."

Success against foes from the American League East Division has been nothing new for Garza (9-6), who stymied the Blue Jays on July 19 by throwing 7 2/3 scoreless frames. The righthander earned his sixth win in 10 starts against the Rays' division rivals and helped them hang on to first place for another night.

Tampa Bay (62-44) is sitting on a two-game cushion over the Boston Red Sox, who dropped a 6-2 bout to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Halladay (12-8) tossed eight solid innings, giving up three runs and six hits while striking out eight. However, the former Cy Young Award winner wasn't nearly as impressive as his counterpart.

"There weren't a lot of hits, as I predicted, and good pitching stops good hitting," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "(Halladay) pitched well. We just didn't get him any runs."

Garza stuck out five, walked one and benefited from four ground-ball double plays.

The Blue Jays, who failed to win for the seventh time in nine games, weren't able to muster much, collecting four singles and a double.

Entering the game, Halladay's lone loss since June 14 came against Garza and the Rays. The righthander also allowed more than two runs for the second time in his last seven outings.

"It's not always the hitters you have to look at, it's the opposing pitcher sometimes," Halladay said. "Again, I feel we have capable players. It's just a matter of getting things going at the right time, but when you have a pitcher that's on, it's tough to do that."