(Betting Express) - The Tampa Bay Rays have certainly been up to the challenge so far in what is arguably the biggest series in franchise history. Baseball's biggest surprise will attempt to produce a three-game sweep of the defending world champion Boston Red Sox when the two American League East foes battle again tonight at Tropicana Field.

Tampa Bay entered this set with a slim half-game edge on the Red Sox for the top spot in the division, but the upstart Rays have extended the margin with back-to-back wins in the first two tests of this set. Matt Garza led the way for Tampa in Tuesday's matchup, with the talented young pitcher throwing seven outstanding innings to give his club a 3-1 decision.

Garza (7-4) allowed one unearned run and just five hits in his second straight dominating start. He struck out 10 Florida Marlins in a complete-game effort during Tampa Bay's 6-1 victory at Dolphin Stadium last Thursday.

Dioner Navarro gave Garza all the support he would need with a pair of RBI singles. Grant Balfour finished out the Rays' seventh win in eight games by tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his second save of the year.

Balfour will be holding down the closer's role for the immediate future, as the Rays placed veteran Troy Percival on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday because of a left hamstring strain.

Garza outdueled Boston's Tim Wakefield (5-6), who surrendered just two runs -- one earned -- and five hits over seven innings in a hard-luck loss.

The Red Sox managed just six hits and were handed their fourth consecutive loss. Boston is just 1-4 thus far on a 10-game road trip that ends with four meetings with the rival New York Yankees, and dropped to a subpar 19-26 as the visitor for the year.

In contrast, Tampa Bay improved to an outstanding 32-13 at Tropicana Field with Tuesday's win.

The home team has won all 11 clashes in this year's season series between the Red Sox and Rays. Boston swept a pair of three-game sets from Tampa at Fenway Park earlier this season, but lost all three matchups with the Rays in St. Petersburg back in April.

Two pitchers vying for spots on the AL All-Star team will go head-to-head this evening, with the Red Sox sending out star hurler Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Rays handing the ball to ace Scott Kazmir.

Matsuzaka began 2008 by winning his first eight decisions but was removed from a May 27 start at Seattle due to a mild shoulder strain and subsequently placed on the disabled list. The Japanese sensation returned to action on June 21, but was rocked for seven runs and six hits in just over an inning of work during a loss to St. Louis.

The right-hander rebounded strongly during Friday's outing in Houston, however. Matsuzaka yielded just two hits and three walks over five scoreless innings to lead Boston to a 6-1 victory over the Astros.

Friday's start extended Matsuzaka's season-long success on the road, where the 27-year-old has gone 4-0 with a 2.20 earned run average in six starts. He is limiting enemy hitters to a .157 batting average in away games this year.

Matsuzaka is just 1-3 with a 4.09 ERA in five lifetime starts against Tampa Bay, but all of those assignments came during his first major league campaign in 2007.

Kazmir has made a strong case for his second career All-Star nod with an excellent first half. The hard-throwing left-hander is 7-3 in 10 starts since sitting out the season's first month with a strained left elbow, while his 2.28 ERA ranks among the best marks in the majors this season.

The 24-year-old hasn't quite been on top of his game lately, however. Kazmir labored through five innings in last Friday's start at Pittsburgh, allowing four runs (3 earned) and throwing 103 pitches despite recording his seventh win of the year. Five days earlier, he gave up three runs on a pair of homers in a 5 2/3-inning stint against Houston and wound up on the short end of a 3-2 decision.

That loss to the Astros is Kazmir's lone defeat at home this season. In six 2008 starts at the Trop, the young flamethrower is 4-1 with an astounding 1.24 ERA and a .153 batting average against.

Kazmir's belated 2008 debut came against the Red Sox in Fenway Park on May 4, and he was hung with a loss after surrendering four runs (3 earned) in four innings. He is 6-6 with a very solid 2.82 ERA over 18 career starts versus Boston, while striking out 123 batters in 105 1/3 innings.