Major League Baseball

EVAN GRANT'S GAME 3 SCOUTING REPORT

Published Oct. 10, 2010 10:11 p.m. ET

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Rays RHP Matt Garza (15-10, 3.91 ERA): With his fastball-slider combo, Garza may have the best pure stuff among Tampa Bay starters. He threw the first no-hitter in Rays history on July 26 in a 5-0 win over Tampa Bay. He has twice beaten the Rangers this year, most recently throwing seven shutout innings while racking up a season-high 10 strikeouts in a 10-1 win in St. Petersburg in August. He pitched a two-hit complete game shutout in Arlington on Aug. 15, 2008, but has allowed 16 runs in 15 1/3 innings at Rangers Ballpark in three starts since.

Key matchup: Josh Hamilton is hitting .133 (2-for-15) against him. Among the 15 pitchers he's faced at least times, only against Zack Greinke (0-for-16) does Hamilton have less success.

Rangers RHP Colby Lewis (12-13, 3.72 ERA): Lewis was the Rangers strikeout leader with 196, the most since Nolan Ryan had 203 in 1991. He was also the staff leader in tough luck. In 15 of his 32 starts, the Rangers scored two or fewer runs while he was in the game. It goes a long way in explaining why Lewis was only 6-4 in Arlington despite a 3.41 ERA. He has not faced Tampa Bay since his return from Japan and the only player on the Rays roster with more than one at-bat against him is Carl Crawford (1-for-4).

Key matchup: Carl Crawford hit .332 vs. right-handed pitchers and 47 of his 62 extra-base hits against them (including 15 of his 19 homers).

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