Fri Apr 25 10:30:01 2008

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Garza returns from DL to face BoSox

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(Sports Network) - Tampa Bay right-hander Matt Garza returns from a stint on the disabled list tonight when the Rays open a three-game weekend series against the visiting Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field.

A first-round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins in 2005, Garza came to the Rays in an offseason trade and got no-decisions in his first two starts before going on the DL with an irritated nerve in his pitching arm.

In those two outings, he allowed 12 hits and eight runs in eight innings.

With the Twins in parts of 2006 and 2007, Garza made 26 big-league appearances - 24 starts - and was 8-13 over 133 innings of work, striking out 105 batters.

He's 2-0 in a pair of starts against the Red Sox, giving up nine hits and three earned runs in 10 2/3 innings.

Boston will start knuckleballing veteran Tim Wakefield, who's amassed a career's worth of success against the Rays. In 38 appearances against Tampa Bay, including 28 starts, Wakefield is 19-3 with three saves and a 3.12 earned run average in 196 1/3 innings, allowing an opposition batting average of just .221.

This season, he's gotten two wins and two no-decisions in four starts, allowing 23 hits and 11 earned runs in 25 innings.

Last season for the Red Sox, Wakefield, now 41 years old, won 17 games for the second time in a career that began in 1992 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

On Thursday in Boston, Gary Matthews finished 3-for-5 with three runs batted in as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim rallied past the Red Sox, 7-5, in the finale of a three-game set from Fenway Park.

David Ortiz launched a two-run homer and Coco Crisp also drove in a pair for the Red Sox, who have dropped two in a row after winning six straight. Kevin Cash added an RBI double in defeat.

Manny Delcarmen (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs without recording an out. Justin Masterson, making his first major-league start, scattered two hits and one run over six full innings. The 23-year-old fanned four but walked four in the no-decision.

In Kissimmee, Florida, Carl Crawford went 3-for-5 with two steals, a run scored and one batted in to lead the Rays in a 5-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at the Disney Sports Complex.

Eric Hinske finished 1-for-4 with two runs batted in for the Rays, who swept the Jays in a three-game set. Evan Longoria and Dioner Navarro each added an RBI in the win.

Andy Sonnanstine (3-1) got the win by allowing just three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings of work. Troy Percival got the save, his fourth of the year, after he allowed one hit in the ninth.

Percival earned a save in each of the three games in the series.

Boston won 13 of the 18 matchups between the teams last season, including six of nine in St. Petersburg.