Cliff Lee strikes out 10 in seven innings of one-run ball

Cliff Lee was somewhat underwhelming in his 15 regular season starts for the Rangers, going 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA, but he was his usual dominant self this afternoon back on the playoff stage. Lee out-dueled David Price with 10 strikeouts in seven innings of one-run ball, with a Ben Zobrist homer accounting for the only damage. He left with a 5-1 lead and if the Rangers’ bullpen does its job he’ll improve to 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA and 43/6 K/BB ratio in six career postseason starts. He’s thrown at least seven innings in all six of those starts and has allowed more than one earned run just once. Between the regular season and playoffs Lee now has a 195/18 K/BB ratio, which works out to an absolutely ridiculous 10.83 strikeouts per walk. Not only is that the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in baseball history, no other pitcher with 200-plus innings has ever reached double-digits. And now he’ll be waiting for the Rays in Game 5 (or for the Twins-Yankees winner in Game 1 of the ALCS).