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USA Today
July 26, 2010
The Tampa Bay Rays, accustomed to being on the wrong side of baseball history, finally had their turn.
Tampa Bay starter Matt Garza allowed one walk but faced the minimum against the Detroit Tigers in pitching the first no hitter in Rays history.
Matt Garza became the first pitcher in Rays' history to throw a no-hitter Monday, winning 5-0, against the Detroit Tigers at Tropicana Field. It was the fifth no-hitter of the season - the most since 1991 - threatening the all-time record of eight no-hitters in 1884.
Garza, who had already seen his team no-hit twice this year, and three times since last July, refused to even look at the scoreboard until the ninth inning. He gasped, seeing zeroes lined across the top.
"I looked up, and said, "Oh, crap, ''Garza said. "''I kept telling myself, "Just finish it. Just finish it. Just battle. If it's meant to happen, it's meant to happen.'"
Garza, who threw 120 pitches, watched pinch-hitter Ramon Santiago's fly ball drop softly into right fielder Ben Zobrist's glove for the final out. He raised his arms triumphantly in the air and was immediately mobbed on the mound by catcher Kelly Shoppach and the rest of his teammates. The crowd of 17,009 stood on their feet, wildly ringing cowbells, celebrating perhaps the greatest individual performance in Rays' history.
"It was one of those days where everything lined up,'' said Garza, 11-5, whose only flaw was a second-inning walk to Brennan Boesch, spoiling his perfect game. The closest the Tigers came to a hit was on Danny Worth's two-out line drive in the third. Zobrist made a leaping catch above his head towards the wall.
"The defense made great plays,'' said Garza, who beat the Tigers for the first time in seven career starts. "I really can't say enough about them.''
Garza's biggest worry during his 120-pitch effort was whether his team would respond with offense. Tigers' starter Max Scherzer had a no-hitter until outfielder Matt Joyce's two-out, grand slam in the sixth. It was all Garza needed, pitching the first no-hitter against Detroit since Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners in 1990, ending the Rays' no-hit curse.
The New York Mets and San Diego Padres are now left as the only major-league teams without a no-hitter.
By Bob Nightengale
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2010/07/matt-garza-tosses-first-no-hitter-in-rays-franchise-history/1?csp=DailyBriefing
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