News
Jays shut out by nemesis Garza, Rays
Toronto held to three hits; Romero solid after rough first
By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com
09/19/09 11:30 PM ET
ST. PETERSBURG -- Aaron Hill believes there might be a simple way to explain why Rays starter Matt Garza has been so dominant against the Blue Jays over the past few years."After a while, he has probably gained that confidence," Hill said on Saturday night. "'Hey, we're playing the Blue Jays. I'm pitching against the Blue Jays. I'm 4-0 against them.' That's what this game is about, going in with confidence."
The task for Toronto is finding a way to break that confidence.
"If I had the answer ..." said Hill, who finished that thought with a shrug of his shoulders.
If Hill or any of the Blue Jays possessed the secret to solving Garza, the team would no longer absorb defeats like its latest 4-0 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field. Toronto rookie Ricky Romero surrendered four runs in a wild first inning, and that was the extent of the evening's scoring. That was more than ample to help Garza to another win over the Jays.
Garza was pulled from the contest with one out in the eighth and he gave the Blue Jays (66-82) more than a few chances up to that point. Toronto put nine runners on base against Garza -- six via walks -- but finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The Rays right-hander allowed just three hits en route to the victory.
Over his past 15 outings, Garza (8-10) has notched only three wins. Each has come against Toronto.
"He's always pitched great against us," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "I really don't understand his record -- I really don't. The way he pitches against us, this guy should win 15 or 20 games."
Hill echoed Gaston's comments.
"Obviously, he's got good stuff," Hill said. "I don't think his record shows what kind of pitcher he actually is. He's going to end up doing some great things. It's just [that] we're tired of getting beat by him. You can only say 'I'll tip my cap,' so many times."
This year, Garza has gone 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA in four starts against the Blue Jays, limiting them to just four earned runs across 28 1/3 innings. Over the past two seasons, he has gone 6-2 with a 0.81 ERA in nine outings against Toronto. For his career? Garza has allowed only 13 earned runs in 69 innings for a 1.70 ERA.
The Jays, who slipped to 4-13 against the Rays this year, put two runners on with two outs in the first inning and Garza induced an inning-ending grounder. The pitcher issued a one-out walk in the second and again escaped unscathed. Toronto also put runners on in the third, sixth and eighth against Garza, but came up empty at each turn.
"He's got that sinker that he has a lot of confidence in," Hill said, "and he loves throwing his fastball. 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. Everything we were looking for, he was doing the opposite."
Garza said he seems to run into the Jays when he is in the midst of a strong stretch of starts.
"The last couple starts, I've been on a roll, and I'm just trying to stick with that," Garza said. "They've just always seemed to be in that path. They've got a great lineup. I just keep attacking them. It's easier to pitch with a four-run cushion. All I do is keep attacking them."
Tampa Bay (76-73) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening frame, when Romero issued a leadoff walk to Jason Bartlett and then hit Carl Crawford with a pitch. Romero -- in the running for the American League Rookie of the Year Award -- made it clear that hitting Crawford was in no way retaliation for the Rays left fielder's late stolen base in Toronto's 11-4 loss on Friday.
"There's no reason why I would try to hit the second hitter of the game after walking the leadoff hitter," Romero said. "That's not my style. I don't try to do that. I wasn't trying to hit anyone. If he felt like that, there's nothing I can do. I wasn't trying to hit him. I had no idea about the whole stolen-base thing."
Crawford did not believe the inside offering was intentional.
"I don't think he tried to hit me on purpose," said Crawford, who was struck on the right elbow. "The only reason why I reacted like that is because it hurt. But I don't think he tried to throw at me."
After Crawford reached, Romero (12-9) allowed four run-scoring singles during a five-hitter stretch. Gabe Kapler capped off that run with an RBI single that plated Tampa Bay's fourth run. From there, Romero limited the Rays to three hits over the next 22 batters. The young lefty logged six innings and issued four walks, but limited the damage after the first.
"You just try to stay positive throughout that whole first inning," Romero said. "My job was to go out there and try to go as far as possible. I guess a positive out of all of this was I was able to go six innings and save our bullpen a little bit."
Considering the way Garza was pitching, that was all Romero could do.
Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
