Matt Garza Joins the No-Hit List

Congratulations to Tampa's Matt Garza on his 5-0 no-hit victory against the Detroit Tigers. Garza, a Mexican-American from, Selma California threw the first no-no in the history of the Tampa Bay franchise (Only the New York Mets and San Diego Padres remain as franchises that have never had a no-hitter thrown by one of their pitchers). Garza's performance was simply dominant. (Photo Credit Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Needing 120 pitches to complete his no-hitter, Garza kept the Tigers' hitters on the defensive by just throwing heat. 101 of his 120 pitches were fastballs. Garza faced the minimum 27 batters with his only walk being erased in a double play during the top of the 6th inning. For the game, Garza struck out six Tigers while only walking one. The game was reminiscent of the Chicago Cubs/Chicago White Sox matchup of earlier this season when dual no-hitters were being thrown. Both Garza and Tigers starter Max Scherzer were dueling each other with no-hitters until the bottom of the 6th when Matt Joyce delivered a Grand Slam to put the Rays up 4-0.

Garza's performance seemed to swing the pendulum of the mystical no-hitter in the favor of the Rays. Since the inaugural season of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the franchise has been no-hit four times with two perfect games and a ho-hitter being thrown against them in the 2009-2010 calendar year. Derek Lowe (2002), Mark Buehrle (2009), Dallas Braden and Edwin Jackson (both in 2010) all no-hit the Rays, with Buehrle and Braden pitching perfect games; Braden and Jackson no-hit the Rays this season. The Rays also became the first team to be involved in three official no-hitters in one season since 1917, when the Browns no-hit the White Sox twice, and the White Sox no-hit the Browns once.

Felicidades hermano. Welcome to the club of Latino's that have thrown no-hitters in MLB.

For Further Reading:
- Click Here for my prior post on Latinos that have thrown no-hitters in MLB history
- Click Here for the box score of yesterday's Rays-Tigers game
- Click Here for Bill Chastain's article on MLB.com about Garza's no-hitter