Garza keeps O's guessing

Matt Garza said his vow to "shove it down" the Orioles' throats Friday night in retribution for giving up four home runs to them last time wasn't really smack talk.

"It was a mental game right there, and I won it," he said after pitching the Rays to a 4-1 victory in the opening game of a critical nine-game road trip.

"They were so geared up to hit that fastball (inside) that they totally forgot the other side of the plate. You could notice that from in the first at-bat with (Nick) Markakis, where he was geared up to pull. ...

"Next time through, they're like, 'Am I staying out there (or) am I coming in?' They were uncomfortable. Task completed."

The Rays (83-51) stayed 11/2 games in the AL East behind the Yankees, who beat the Blue Jays earlier, and pulled to a seven-game advantage in the wild-card standings over the Red Sox, who were rained out.

Garza improved to 9-1 lifetime against the Orioles, but not before being chided by Manager Joe Maddon for showing some attitude when Maddon pulled him with two out in the sixth inning.

Maddon waited until the two got back to the dugout before saying anything.

"There was something he had said walking off the mound, and I didn't appreciate it," Maddon said later. "So we reviewed it when I got to the dugout."

About Garza's reluctance to leave after throwing 98 pitches, Maddon said. "I love the fact our pitchers don't want to come out of the game ... and he's kind of trained himself to really pitch farther into the game. However, it was hot and humid tonight for this time of year."

Still smarting after giving up two home runs to Luke Scott and three consecutive home runs in an 11-10 loss to the Orioles on July 20, Garza promised Wednesday he would "make them feel really uncomfortable in the box" and "go in there, hair on fire ... and just go after them."

But he never threw at any batter, never threw inside appreciably, and he relied on his changeup more than usual while allowing only five hits.

"I never meant any disrespect to their guys," Garza said. "They're a great club. I said they're young and they can cause a mess, meaning more like a spoiler role."

Maddon said he didn't take issue with Garza's pre-game bluster.

"I'm into freedom of speech," he said. "He went out there and pitched tonight, and I thought he was very civil about it. ... Sometimes with Matt, there's a little hyperbole in his words."

Carl Crawford had three hits, including his 101st career triple, and scored a run and drove one in. Reid Brignac, getting a start in part because of his .478 batting average at Camden Yards, went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI.

Chad Qualls, Randy Choate, Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano combined to pitch 31/3 scoreless innings, and Soriano picked up his major league-leading 41st save.

The Rays could feel fortunate they did their damage early against Kevin Millwood (3-15), the Opening-Day starter who has won once since June 24.

They managed only two hits over three innings against reliever and former Ray Mark Hendrickson, and one of those was a grounder from B.J. Upton that was deflected by Hendrickson.

After the Rays failed to score following Crawford's two-out triple in the first, Brignac got the team going in the third with a leadoff single.

He advanced on John Jaso's groundout and scored on Crawford's bloop single to right. Evan Longoria followed with an RBI double to left, and the Rays led 2-0.

Tampa Bay made it 4-0 in the fourth on a two-out single by Upton, an RBI single to left by Brignac and Ben Zobrist's team-leading 11th sacrifice fly.

Ex-Ray Ty Wigginton's one-out double to right in the bottom of the fourth was only third hit off Garza, whose August ERA of 1.27 was the second lowest monthly ERA in club history.

Garza let Wigginton get to third with a wild pitch to Scott, and after Scott walked, Felix Pie hit a sacrifice fly to put the Orioles on the board.