Matt Garza throws first no-hitter in Rays' history

Thirteen cans of beer stood on the carpet outside of Matt Garza's locker late Monday night, a mix of Bud Light and Michelob Ultra, proudly waiting for the man of the hour, the night, the week, the summer.

Garza had just tossed the first no-hitter in the Tampa Bay Rays history and, like it or not, was in for the beer bath of his life, which he happily endured after making the rounds of on-field interviews.

Stripped down to his uniform pants and trying to see through red eyes burning from the suds, Garza walked somewhat dazed through the Rays clubhouse before heading to the interview room.

Dan Wheeler offered Garza a bath towel and a thumbs-up.

Garza allowed only a one-out walk in the second inning and pitched to the minimum 27 batters in the Rays' 5-0 victory against the visiting Detroit Tigers in front of 17,009 fans at Tropicana Field.

"It was the first no-hitter I ever had," Garza said. "Two-hitters, one-hitter, I had (a one-hitter) in Miami in '08, but I think this one takes the cake."

The Rays players poured out of the dugout after Garza got pinch-hitter Ramon Santiago to fly out to Ben Zobrist in right field for the final out of the night.

"I told a couple of guys other than going to the World Series that was the coolest thing I've ever been a part of," center fielder B.J. Upton said.

It was the fifth no-hitter in the major leagues this season and the third involving the Rays.

They were on the wrong end of Dallas Braden's perfect game in Oakland on May 9 and were no-hit by Edwin Jackson of the Diamondbacks on June 25.

Add Mark Buehrle's perfect game in Chicago on July 23, 2009 and the Rays have been involved in two no-hitters and two perfect games four times in a little more than a year.

"Feels good to finally be on the right side," left fielder Carl Crawford said.

The Rays joined the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Sox as the only teams to be involved in three no-hitters in one season. Those two were involved in three no-hitters against each other in 1917, including two on consecutive days.

The Trop is the first American League ballpark to play host to a pair of no-hitters since Royals Stadium in 1973. The last major league stadium to see a pair of no-hitters in the same season was San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium in 2001.

Garza's no-hitter came in the 2,039th game in team history and came just 31 days after Jackson's no-no. For those counting, Garza's gem was the second no-hitter at the Trop in the last 11 games.

"I'm very happy for him," Rays manager Joe Maddon. "Of course I'm happy for the team, but I'm happy for him."

Garza, who had never beaten the Tigers in six career starts prior to Monday, looked sharp from the beginning when he struck out Austin Jackson on three pitches to start the game.

He walked Brennan Boesch with one out in the second inning, but Boesch was soon erased on a double play started by third baseman Evan Longoria.

Zobrist made a diving catch in right-center field to rob Danny Worth of a hit for the final out of the third inning.

Miguel Cabrera opened the seventh inning with a line drive to Crawford that the left fielder lost in the lights.

"I was just saying to myself he's got a no-hitter on the line, so was either going to let the ball hit me somewhere or battle with it all the way," Crawford said. "I was just happy I caught it."

Crawford said he tracked the ball as long as he could and anticipated where it was headed. He guessed right and got his glove up in time to make the catch.

That was as close as the Tigers would come to a hit.

"Garza threw pretty much high fastball after high fastball all night long," said Tiger manager Jim Leyland, who watched most of the game from the visiting clubhouse after being ejected in the third inning when he argued with umpire Marty Foster after Foster called Upton safe while stealing second base, "He mixed in a few outstanding curveballs, but really didn't use much else. Just threw fastball after fastball up top, and we just didn't get to it. ... The guy obviously made history for Tampa. Congratulations to him."

Detroit starter Max Scherzer matched Garza hitless-inning for hitless-inning until Matt Joyce unloaded on a 3-2 fastball with two out in the sixth and the bases-loaded.

"I grooved it and he hit it," Scherzer said.

It was Joyce's second grand slam of the season and it turned the focus squarely on Garza's pursuit of history.

"I was pumped," Garza said. "When Joyce hit that ball, that's when it really erupted. Everyone was like, 'OK, cool. Four-nothing. Let's go.' "

Actually, not everyone was cool.

Sean Rodriguez, who didn't play, found himself sitting to the right of the dugout cooler next to Willy Aybar for the entire game. When Rodriguez stood up and started to walk away in the third inning, Aybar whistled and called him back.

"Hey you," Aybar yelled. "Get back here."

After each inning, the same trio of players high-fived Garza as he came off the field - David Price, Jeff Niemann and Rodriguez.

"I'm not saying it was the same thing every time, but it was the same thing every time," Rodriguez said.

Joyce, who served as the designated hitter, said he tried not to make eye contact with Garza the whole night.

"I didn't want to him to give up a hit and say, 'You looked at me wrong,' " Joyce said.

Catcher Kelly Shoppach said he talked to Garza twice during the game, once around the third inning to tell Garza to try and keep his fastball down and once during a chance meeting at the water cooler in the eighth.

"Keep it going," Shoppach said.

And it was all Garza, Shoppach emphasized afterwards.

"That's a huge moment for him," Shoppach said. "I'm so proud to be a part of that. Man. He's the one. I didn't do anything. I returned the ball after he threw it."

Garza threw 120 pitches, 80 for strikes. Shoppach said he thought 101 of those pitches were fastballs.

"If you have command for your fastball you can do so much, you can be so creative," Shoppach said. "When you do that, you have a chance to be special."

Garza, who matched his career-high with his 11th victory of the season, had pitched six hitless innings on two other occasions.

"I thought early in the game he was probably more get-able on their part," Maddon said. "As the game went on, he got better."

With the way Garza was pitching, Joyce's grand slam all but iced the victory.

"I think we had the feeling that if we could push two or three runs across the plate, Matt would take us home," Joyce said.

Not that Garza needed any, but just to be safe, Crawford added an insurance run with an eighth inning home run that that bounced off the front of the Batter's Eye Restaurant in center field. It was only the Rays' third hit of the night.

While his teammates were doing their best to avoid Garza's glare and not jinx the evening, Garza said he didn't realize he was on the verge of making major league history until he was three outs away.

"Ninth inning, I roll out there, I look up (at the scoreboard) and go, 'Oh, crap,' " Garza said.

Shoppach laughed at that.

"Ya'll know as well as any one how weird he is. He's a little bit in his own world," Shoppach said. "You just try to reign in all his energy and all his skills because you never know mentally what he's going to get."

Garza had it all together Monday - command of his emotions, command of his pitches.

"He wasn't out there throwing, he was out there pitching," second baseman Reid Brignac said. "It was an unbelievable effort on his part. I'm glad to be a part of it."

Upton said they all wanted to be a part of it as the innings passed by.

"In the seventh, eighth inning on defense you're kind of more aware of it and wanting to make a play for him," Upton said.

Brignac, who turned a ground ball by Don Kelly to start the ninth into the first out of the inning, said he did so with nervous excitement.

"You're wishing Garza could strike them all out and make it easy," Crawford said.

Garza did that with Gerald Laird for the second out of the inning.

The final out was an easy fly ball to Zobrist that set off the on-field celebration and soon had beer cans lined up in anticipation of Garza's arrival at his locker.

"It was nice," Crawford said. "It had that playoff feel to it a little bit. Everybody rushing the mound. It was a real exciting time. First time in (team) history, so it was nice to be a part of history."