Matt Garza

Matt Garza
Matt Garza in the Tampa Bay Rays jersey stretching
Milwaukee Brewers - No. 22
Starting pitcher
Born: November 26th, 1983 Selma , United States
Strikes: Right	Throws: Right
Debut in Major League Baseball
August 11,  2006  with the  Minnesota Twins
MLB stats (through December 2012)
Win-loss	75-75
Earned Run Average	3.81
Strikeouts	1,127
Teams
Minnesota Twins (2006-2007) Tampa Bay Rays (2008-2010) Chicago Cubs (2011-2013) Texas Rangers (2013) Milwaukee Brewers (since 2014)
Awards
Pitched a no-hitter on July 26, 2010 2008 ALCS - MVP

Matthew Scott Garza (born November 26, 1983 in Selma , California ) is a retired American baseball player in Major League Baseball . He played u. a. with the Tampa Bay Rays , Chicago Cubs , and Milwaukee Brewers as starting pitcher .

Career

Garza was selected in the 2005 MLB Draft in the first round (25th pick) by the Minnesota Twins and began his career in the Twins' single A team .

2006

In the 2006 season, Garza managed the feat of playing through all levels of the minor leagues up to the MLB in just one season. He started in the A-Team, the Fort Myers Miracles , but soon moved to the AA-Team, the New Britain Rock Cats , before he was promoted to the AAA-Team, Rochester Red Wings. Ultimately, Garza was able to celebrate his MLB debut with the Twins on August 11 of that year, replacing the injured Francisco Liriano .

2007

At the beginning of the 2007 season, Garza lost his place in the Twins pitching rotation to other young talents such as Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker . On June 28th, Garza made another jump from the AAA team to the MLB. On July 6, in the game against the Chicago White Sox , Garza became the first pitcher in the history of the Twins since 1989 to be used as a batter in an American League game . He was added to the batting rotation after twins catcher Mike Redmond sustained a head injury. On July 29, Garza had his best game to date with 11 strikeouts in six innings against the Cleveland Indians .

2008

On November 28, 2007, Garza was jointly traded to the Tampa Bay Rays with Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan . Garza is playing a very successful season with the Rays. In the American League Championship Series, Garza had a large share in the win over the Boston Red Sox with two starts and an ERA of 1.38 . After he was able to book the decisive win in the seventh game and the Rays thus moved into the World Series 2008 , Garza was chosen as the MVP of the series.

2009

After a contract extension in the winter break before 2009, Garza pitched 203 innings with an ERA of 3.95. Despite this career best in innings, Tampa could not reach the playoffs, but only managed the second season with a positive record (more wins than losses (84-76)).

2010

While Garza confirmed his status as a solid and reliable starting pitcher in 2010 and he threw again over 200 innings with an ERA under 4, the personal highlight for Matt came on July 26th, when he threw the first no-hitter in the Rays franchise history . His team won 5-0 against the Detroit Tigers , with Brennan Boesch as the only Dertroit baserunner after a 2nd inning 1-out walk . The season was crowned by winning the AL East and participating in the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. Garza started Game 3, gave up only one run in the first 6 innings, but was removed from the game in the 7th inning after a lead-off home run by Ian Kinsler . The Rays won the game, but Joaquin Benoit got the win . Tampa was eliminated in five games.

2011

In January 2011, Garza was traded to the Chicago Cubs for several young players and soon established himself as an ace in the rotation despite terrifying performances in spring training (10:38 ERA). He finished seasons 10 and 10 in 31 starts. His 3.32 ERA was by far the best of any Cubs starter, and his 198 innings were only 4.1 less than Ryan Dempsters .

2012

Elbow problems forced Garza to end the season early to avoid surgery, after just 18 starts and a record of 5 and 7.

Personal

Garza is married to his high school girlfriend and has three children with her.

Web links

Commons : Matt Garza  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Player information and statistics from MLB  or  ESPN  or  Baseball Reference  or  Fangraphs  or  The Baseball Cube (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Notes: Early start for Garza" . MLB.com. August 8, 2006. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 11, 2010.