Garza looks sharp in six innings

ROGER MOONEY
rmooney@bradenton.com

CLEARWATER – Matt Garza has pitched against the best the Detroit Tigers have to offer. Same with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

So, naturally, he would go to work Tuesday and face a Philadelphia lineup that included Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell.

“That’s how my spring is,” Garza said.

Here’s something else about Garza’s spring: It’s going very well.

Garza, the projected third starter in the Rays rotation, became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to go six innings when he threw 85 pitches in the Rays 4-2 loss to the Phillies.

He allowed four hits, three earned runs, struck out three and walked three.

“Take (Geoff) Jenkins home run away and he pitched pretty well,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “Overall, I was very pleased with his performance.”

Jenkins homer was a bomb to right field that cut through a stiff breeze and landed near the top of the berm in right field.

“I felt good. I felt in control the whole game,” Garza said.

He was able to use all his pitches, getting curveball over for strikes in the later innings. That he needed just 85 pitches to get through six innings was a plus, Garza said.

“That’s outstanding for me,” Garza said. “Usually I’m 100 pitches in six. That’s perfect for me. That’s what I’m working for, pitch efficiency.”

Maddon said they will try to get Garza to throw 100 pitches in his next start then back him off in his final start of the spring. With Kazmir injured, Garza will start the second game of the season.

Wanted: Lefties for Miller

Trever Miller faced two batters in the seventh inning. It wasn’t the two Maddon hoped Miller would face.

“We were trying to get him some lefties. We need to get him some lefties,” Maddon said. “We talked about that when spring training began, but we’ve just had a hard time getting him a left-handed hitter. We’d like to be able to match it up.”

Miller, a left-hander whose job this season will be to face left-handed batters, faced the right-handed hitting Chris Coste and pinch-hitter Chris Snelling, a left-hander.

He retired Coste but walked Snelling.

Maddon was hoping to get Miller in the game earlier to face Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, but Garza was too good.

“He had a nice slot today, but those guys were all gone by the time we had a chance to get to (Miller),” Maddon said.

So Miller will head to the Rays minor league complex Wednesday and pitch in a minor league where he will face nothing but lefties.

The move has two purposes: to get Miller some work against lefties and allow him to pitch on consecutive days.

He’ll be joined by Dan Wheeler and Gary Glover.

Glover pitched against the Phillies on Tuesday, and Wheeler pitched in a minor league game.

No perfect game here

Philly starter Cole Hamels retired the first 14 batters he faced and didn’t come close to allowing a hit to any of them.

“Oh yeah,” Evan Longoria said when asked if he was aware of the perfect game. “We weren’t going to let that happen.”

Longoria broke up the perfect game with a line drive home run into the tiki bar behind left field, turning on a two-strike fastball with two outs.

“He just tried to elevate a fastball and raise my eye-level, but he got it a little too low,” Longoria said.

Still, Hamels was outstanding, allowing just two hits and striking out seven in six innings.

“Hamels was really good for them,” Maddon said. “I’ve heard about how good he is, and I saw it (Tuesday).”

Wednesday’s game

Edwin Jackson makes his fourth start of the spring Wednesday against the visiting Phillies. Also scheduled to pitch are Scott Munter, Scott Dohmann, Troy Percival and Grant Balfour.

Jamie Moyer is scheduled to start for the Phillies.

This & That
Despite the loss, the Rays are off to their best spring training start in the team’s 11-year history … J.P. Howell continues to impress out of the bullpen, throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts against the Phillies … Jon Weber started in center field and made a nice catch off Jimmy Rollins line drive into the center field gap in the first inning, catching up with the ball at the warning track after a long run … Longoria now leads the team with three home runs and is tied with B.J. Upton for the lead in RBIs with five … Andy Cannizaro (back inflammation) returned to practice Tuesday … Chad Orvella (bicep tendentious) said he’s “day-to-day,” but does not know when he will return.