Tampa Bay @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 7, 2010 ) Texas 6, Tampa Bay 0
Good pitching usually beats good hitting in the postseason, but the Texas Rangers are doing their best to quash that notion.
Then again, Texas has not seen much in the way of good pitching from the Tampa Bay Rays thus far in the American League Division Series.
Because of that, the Rangers are one win away from pulling off a stunning sweep when they host the Rays in Game 3 of the best-of-5 series on Saturday.
The AL West Division champs easily won the first two games at Tropicana Field, using timely hitting and sensational pitching by left-handers Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson to seize control of the series.
This is unfamiliar territory for Texas, which has already doubled its previous franchise postseason victory total.
Tampa Bay, which won a major league-high 47 road games this season, will send right-hander Matt Garza (15-10) to the mound today in an attempt to stave off elimination.
Garza will need to put the clamps on a Texas lineup that has produced four home runs and three doubles in outscoring the Rays 11-1 in the first two games.
The Rangers have built comfortable margins by the fifth inning in each of their two wins, opening a 5-0 lead in the opener and a 6-0 cushion in the second.
That has placed added stress on a struggling Rays lineup that has produced just 17 runs in their last 10 games and has been shut out four times in that span.
Garza is 2-0 against the Rangers this season and 5-3 with a 3.97 ERA in nine career starts. He lasted just 5 2/3 innings at Texas on June 6, allowing four runs on six hits in a 9-5 Tampa Bay victory.
The 26-year-old right-hander, who has a no-hitter to his credit this season, dominated the Rangers on Aug. 17, throwing seven scoreless innings and yielding just five hits while striking out 10. He did wobble down the stretch, losing three of his last four decisions.
Getting the chance to close out the Rays is Colby Lewis, who had pitched the last two years in Japan before signing with Texas in the offseason.
The 31-year-old right-hander went a deceptive 12-13 with a solid 3.72 ERA this season. His 2-0 mark in three lifetime starts against the Rays is inconsequential, since he hasn’t faced them since the 2003 season.
Lewis will have a tough act to follow after Lee and Wilson helped limit Tampa Bay to just one run and eight hits in the first two games.
Despite the Rangers' stellar pitching, Tampa Bay has had its scoring chances, but the Rays have stranded 15 runners and are batting just .125 (8 of 64) as a team.