Major League Baseball

LEE, INCREDIBLY, RAISES HIS GAME

Published Oct. 19, 2010 10:10 p.m. ET

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If it's any solace to the Rays, the Yankees couldn't beat Cliff Lee either. And they couldn't even get a run.

The Texas left-hander was even better in Monday night's ALCS Game 3 spotlight at Yankee Stadium than in his two division series victories at Tropicana Field, leading the Rangers to an 8-0 win with a dominating and dazzling performance, allowing two hits while striking out 13 and throwing a season-high 122 pitches over eight innings.

He got all the help he needed in the first inning as Josh Hamilton, the one-time Rays prospect, clubbed a two-run homer off Andy Pettitte, then a hefty bonus in one of the ugliest ninth innings you'll ever see as the Rangers added six runs in a rally started with a Hamilton double.

The result left the Rangers with a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, and the Yankees a two-step from joining the Rays on the October couch.

In his two wins over the Rays, Lee allowed a run each time, five hits over seven innings in the opener and six in his complete-game clinching win, while striking out 10 and 11.

With his 13 strikeouts on Monday - matching his career high for any game - Lee made history: the first pitcher to have three games of 10 or more strikeouts in a single postseason, and only the second to have three consecutive in postseason play, joining Bob Gibson, who did in over the 1967-68 World Series.

The win left the Rangers in good position going into tonight's Game 4. Of the first 19 times the ALCS was tied 1-1, the team that won Game 3 went on to the World Series 14 times. The five that didn't were the 1977 Royals, 1986 Angels, 1995 Mariners, 1998 Indians and 2007 Indians.

The pitching matchup featured two of the most successful postseason performers in Lee and Pettitte, and it lived up to its promise.

Pettitte came in with a record 19 wins, plus nine losses and a 3.87 ERA in 41 postseason starts, and he was undefeated over his past nine, matching the third longest streak. He wasn't bad Monday, allowing the two runs on Hamilton's homer and five hits total over his seven innings.

But Lee, who came in 6-0 with a 1.44 ERA in his first seven postseason appearances and on a five-game winning streak, was better.

Lee, who also tormented the Yankees in last year's World Series when he won Games 1 and 5 for the Phillies, didn't allow a hit until Jorge Posada singled with two outs in the fifth.

The only other one he allowed came when Brett Gardner singled to lead off the sixth.

That led to the Yankees' only real chance to score, as Gardner stole second four pitches into Derek Jeter's at-bat. But Jeter struck out, and neither Nick Swisher nor Mark Teixeira could get the ball out of the infield, both grounding out.

The Rangers got off to a quick start for the third straight game when Hamilton took Pettitte deep. Michael Young launched the "rally," battling back from an 0-and-2 start through six more pitches (three fouls, three balls) before singling to right-center. Hamilton didn't need much time to cash in, lacing Pettitte's 2-and-1 pitch over the rightfield fence.

Hamilton nearly had another after Young singled with one out in the sixth, but his drive to right was just short and caught in front of the wall by Swisher.

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com

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Today's games

NLCS Game 3: Phillies at Giants, 4:19, Ch. 13, 1040-AM

ALCS Gane 4: Rangers at Yankees, 8:07, TBS, 1040-AM