FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Bartolo Colon was back on the mound Thursday throwing 94-mile-an-hour fastballs and exciting the Red Sox general manager who signed him.

“He had more arm strength than we expected,” Theo Epstein said. “For his first time out, we were really impressed.”

So was the 2005 AL Cy Young award winner, who has pitched in just 29 games the past two years because of elbow and shoulder injuries.

“The past few years have been tough,” Colon said through a translator after his first spring training outing. “It’s that much more gratifying to see the results finally start panning out.”

The burly right-hander who once could throw 100 mph allowed a solo homer to Jon Weber, the next to last batter he faced in his two-inning stint in Boston’s 3-3 tie with the Tampa Bay Rays, who got 4 2-3 scoreless innings from Matt Garza.

Colon escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first and allowed two hits and a walk with one strikeout.

“I feel very good and my control was good, kind of what I was looking for,” Colon said. “I felt really strong out there.”

He loaded the bases on a single, an error and a walk, and then struck out B.J. Upton on his 16th pitch. He threw just 10 more pitches – one of them a fastball that Weber hit over the fence – to the last six batters.

“More than anything, it’s great to be able to go out on the mound, even if it’s for a brief stint, have some success,” Colon said. “So that’s very rewarding. It shows that the hard work is paying off.”

The Red Sox signed the 34-year-old Colon to a minor league contract Feb. 25. He became a free agent after last season when his four-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels ended. He pitched in just three games after July 23, but in his last game, he struck out two batters in a perfect inning of relief on Sept. 29.

With Curt Schilling sidelined at least until the All-Star break, Colon could be a major contributor in the rotation even if his velocity isn’t what it once was.

But if he can throw in the 90s with the movement, location and change of speeds that he showed Thursday, “who knows what we may have? And we know he’s not going to be intimidated,” Epstein said.

Colon knows he may not pitch as well as he did through 2005.

“It’s going to be tough considering I’m older now. My body’s at a different stage,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop trying.”

Tampa Bay got an even better performance from its starter.

Garza had his second straight scoreless stint in his third spring outing. In his previous game, he threw three shutout innings against the New York Yankees.

“I was only supposed to go four (innings) today, so I’m ahead of the curve,” said Garza, who was obtained in an offseason trade that sent outfielder Delmon Young to Minnesota. “I liked what I did today but I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

Garza, a former first-round draft pick by Minnesota, was 5-7 with a 3.69 ERA last year.

Boston tied the game in the seventh then fell behind 2-1 in the eighth, with each team scoring on double-play grounders. Brandon Moss’ first homer of spring training tied the game in the ninth for Boston.

Chris Richard’s sacrifice fly put Tampa Bay ahead in the 10th before Chris Carter’s RBI-double tied it in the bottom of the inning.

AP-ES-03-13-08 1817EDT