Rangers Acquire Garza

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Arlington, Texas – The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has acquired right-handed pitcher Matt Garza from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for right-handed pitchers C.J. Edwards and Justin Grimm, infielder Mike Olt, and a player to be named later. Additionally, the club has reinstated right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish from the 15-day disabled list.

The 29-year-old Garza is expected to join the Rangers tomorrow. He had been scheduled to start tonight at Arizona. The Rangers will make a corresponding move on its active roster when he reports.

Garza has gone 6-1 with a 3.17 ERA (25 ER/71.0 IP) in 11 games/starts for the Cubs this season, recording 62 strikeouts against 20 walks. His current ERA, WHIP (1.14), opponents average (.229) and walks-per-9-innings (2.54) figures would all be the lowest of his career. He has won each of his last 5 starts, the most consecutive winning starts and the

longest single-season win streak of his career. In 6 starts since June 16, he has gone 5-0 with a 1.24 ERA (6 ER/43.2 IP), holding opponents to a .210 (34-162) average with 10 walks and 38 strikeouts. His 5 wins in that span are tied for the major league lead, while his 1.24 ERA is the lowest in the big leagues among pitchers with more than 31.0 innings.

Garza missed the beginning of this season after suffering a left lat strain on February 17, and did not make his first start with the Cubs until May 21. He was in his third season with Chicago-NL after three years with Tampa Bay. He has gone 63-62 with a 3.80 ERA in 181 games/178 starts with Minnesota (2006-07), Tampa Bay (2008-10), and Chicago-NL (2011-13). Garza is one of 21 active starters (minimum 1000.0 innings) with a career ERA of 3.80-or-less and a WHIP of 1.28-or-less. He has averaged 4.53 runs of support per 9 innings in his career, the 9th-lowest figure among active starters with at least 1000.0 innings. He made at least 30 starts in 4 consecutive seasons from 2008-11, and surpassed 200.0 innings in both 2009 and 2010 with Tampa Bay.

He was a member of the 2008 and 2010 Tampa Bay postseason clubs, going 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA (12 ER/31.0 IP) in 5 playoff starts, and was named the 2008 American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player after the Rays beat the Red Sox in 7 games to secure the A.L. pennant. Garza faced the minimum 27 batters in a no-hitter against the Tigers on July 26, 2010, when he issued a second-inning walk to Brennan Boesch before erasing the free pass with an inning-ending double play. He then retired the final 22 batters he faced.

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