Major League Baseball
Rays' Garza no-hits Tigers
Major League Baseball

Rays' Garza no-hits Tigers

Published Jul. 27, 2010 2:18 a.m. ET

Matt Garza pitched the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history and the fifth in the major leagues this season, beating the Detroit Tigers 5-0 Monday night.

The Rays have been held hitless three times since last July, including a pair of perfect games that were thrown against them.

''It was one of those days where everything lined up,'' Garza said. ''The defense made great plays. I really can't say enough about them.''

The last time there were at least five no-hitters in a season was 1991, when Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan threw one of seven in the big leagues that year, according to STATS LLC.

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Garza's teammates mobbed him near the mound after a performance that left the New York Mets and San Diego Padres as the only big league teams without a no-hitter. The Rays began play in 1998 - the Padres in 1969 and the Mets in '62.

The Tigers were no-hit for the first time since Randy Johnson shut them down at Seattle on June 2, 1990.

Garza struck out six en route to the first no-hitter tossed by the Rays. It came in the team's 2,039th game, and on a night in which the Rays struggled to generate much offense themselves.

Matt Joyce's grand slam with two outs in the sixth was the first hit off Detroit's Max Scherzer (7-8). The next batter, Jason Bartlett, singled for the only other hit of the night until Carl Crawford homered in the eighth for Tampa Bay.

In addition to the five no-hitters thrown this season, the Year of the Pitcher, was the perfect game Detroit right-hander Armando Galarraga was denied because of a missed call at first base by umpire Jim Joyce.

Oakland's Dallas Braden tossed a perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9, and Philadelphia's Roy Halladay also was perfect at Florida on May 29.

Arizona right-hander Edwin Jackson threw 149 pitches for a no-hitter against the Rays, his former team, at Tropicana Field on June 26. Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a no-hitter April 17 at Atlanta.

Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox against Tampa Bay on July 23, 2009.

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