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(Sports Network) - The Tampa Bay Rays will be vying for their first road series win in a month when the American League East leaders wrap up a three- game set with the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

After dropping a 3-1 decision to the Jays in Monday's series opener, Tampa Bay received a huge lift from starting pitcher Matt Garza to even things up. The young right-hander fired his first career shutout to outduel Toronto ace Roy Halladay in the Rays' 3-0 victory last night.

Garza (9-6) yielded just five hits and one walk while striking out five in a razor-sharp performance. The 24-year-old threw 74 of his 106 pitches for strikes.

Eric Hinske gave the Rays a 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the third inning and Evan Longoria extended it by smacking a two-run triple in the eighth.

Halladay (12-8) worked the first eight innings and allowed all three Tampa runs on six hits in a tough-luck loss. The All-Star hurler finished with eight strikeouts on the night.

Tuesday's win was only Tampa's third in its last 10 road games and improved the club to a still-troubling 22-28 away from home this year. The Rays last won a series as the visitor from June 27-29, when they took two of three tests from Pittsburgh.

Tampa Bay also pulled further away from both Boston and the New York Yankees in the AL East race with last night's triumph. The Red Sox are now two games back of the Rays after losing to the Angels on Tuesday, while the Yankees fell to four games off the pace with yesterday's loss to Baltimore.

Edwin Jackson gets the call for Tampa Bay this afternoon and hopes for a better showing than his last matchup with the Blue Jays. The hard-throwing righty was tagged for six runs and eight hits while lasting just 4 1/3 innings during a 9-4 loss to Toronto on July 20.

Jackson fared better in Friday's start at Kansas City, as he held the Royals to a pair of solo homers in a five-inning stint that earned him his sixth victory of the season.

The 24-year-old is 0-3 with a 4.26 earned run average in eight lifetime appearances (7 starts) against Toronto, but did deliver eight shutout innings in a no-decision at the Rogers Centre on May 8.

The Blue Jays, who have won six of their last eight contests, will have Scott Richmond make his major league debut in today's finale. The 28-year-old was promoted from Triple-A Syracuse earlier this week to take the rotation spot of John Parrish, who has been moved to the bullpen.

Richmond, a native Canadian who spent the previous three seasons pitching in the independent Northern League, went 5-10 with a 4.29 ERA over 21 starts between Syracuse and Double-A New Hampshire prior to his callup.

The Rays have taken eight of their 11 matchups with Toronto this season and won two of three games from the Jays at the Rogers Centre back in early May.