Matt Garza : October 13th, 2008, 8:15 pm est

Matt Garza allowed one run over six-plus innings and four Rays hit home runs as Tampa Bay won in Boston 9-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the ALCS. It could have been six scoreless innings for Garza, but the Rays sent him back out for the seventh even though he had thrown 109 pitches. He walked the pitcher Jason Varitek and then allowed a single to Alex Cora before being pulled. The Rays were up 5-0 at that point on the strength of homers from B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria, and only one runner came around to score off J.P. Howell. Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena later padded the lead with bombs of their own. With three sinkholes in Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and Varitek spread throughout their lineup, the Red Sox never sustained a rally of any kind. Dustin Pedroia hit two balls off the Monster that could have been homers in another park. However, they went for a double and a single and neither resulted in a run against Garza.