St. Petersburg, FL (My Sportsbook) - Matt Garza threw a nearly flawless 7 2/3 innings as the Tampa Bay Rays crushed the Boston Red Sox, 13-0, in the opener of a four-game set.

Garza (2-2) took a perfect game into the seventh inning and gave up just one hit and one walk while striking out 10 for the Rays, who had dropped four of five coming into the contest.

The Tampa offense matched the excellent pitching performance with an 18-hit game. Evan Longoria went 3-for-5 with a solo home run, four RBI and three runs scored while Michel Hernandez had four hits, including a solo home run, and three RBI.

Jacoby Ellsbury had the lone hit and David Ortiz and Julio Lugo each drew a walk for the Red Sox, who have dropped two of three on the heels of an 11-game winning streak. Josh Beckett (2-2) was clobbered for seven runs on 10 hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.

Tampa jumped on top in the third inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Longoria hit a bases-clearing double. After Carlos Pena struck out, Pat Burrell singled to right to bring home Longoria for a 4-0 lead.

The Rays increased their lead in the fourth as Hernandez hit a one-out solo home run and a double by B.J. Upton was followed by a double from Carl Crawford for a 6-0 lead.

Tampa made it a 7-0 game in the fifth as Hernandez' single to left scored Akinori Iwamura and the Rays tacked on another run in the sixth on Longoria's one-out, solo shot over the left-center wall.

Garza, meanwhile, cruised through the first six innings as he didn't let anyone on base and had eight strikeouts.

However, Ellsbury ruined the perfect game in the seventh when he led off the frame with an infield single.

Balfour relieved Garza with two outs in the eighth and got the final out of the inning.

The Rays got two-run doubles from Gabe Gross and Iwamura along with an RBI double from Hernandez to make it a 13-0 game.

Balfour allowed a one-out walk to Lugo in the ninth before recording the final two outs of the game.

Game Notes

Every starter for the Rays had at least one hit and scored once...Tampa has won 10 of the last 13 games against the Red Sox...Longoria has 24 RBI and six home runs on the season.