Rays try to figure how to beat Rangers’ Cliff Lee

Try to work deep counts against Cliff Lee and you’ll likely find yourself in a hole.

Swing early in counts and you could make Lee even more efficient.

That’s the conflict the Tampa Bay Rays face Tuesday night as they try to clear their biggest hurdle — beating Lee, the Texas Rangers’ left-handed ace — to become the first team since the 2001 New York Yankees to lose the first two games at home and still win the best-of-five American League division series.

Lee is 5-0 in six postseason starts, including a 5-1 victory over the Rays in Game 1.

“That’s the type of guy that you better be on because he’s one of the better ones in the game,” Rays first baseman Carlos Pena said. “We do have all the confidence in our lineup and our capabilities. At the same time, all year we’ve never taken anyone for granted or any team for granted.

“We’ll prepare to the best of our abilities. Give it all we have and leave it on the field. And at the end of it all, hopefully we’re on top.”

To advance to the AL Championship Series for the second time in three years, Tampa Bay will try to solve Lee, 32, who enhanced his postseason value as a free agent in the Game 1 victory in which he needed only 104 pitches in seven innings after throwing 24 in the first inning.

And after giving up his third single in the first inning, Lee retired 18 of the next 20 batters, including 11 in a row.

Pena is aware of the theory that swinging early in the count might be the best approach. Lee threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 27 Rays he faced.

“At the same time, you don’t want to go out there and swing at everything because he’s a very smart pitcher,” Pena said. “It should be interesting. We know we have our work cut out for ourselves, but we’re confident in our ability and we have faith.”

Lee was 0-3 with a 4.56 earned-run average during the regular season against the Rays, but only one of those losses came after he was traded from AL West cellar dweller Seattle.

Lee lost, 6-4, at Tropicana Field on Aug. 16 despite retiring the first 11 batters.

“What we have to do is just remember that we had good success against him, not in this postseason, and try to take that into this next game,” slugger Evan Longoria said.

“And also, the fact that we’ve played in the last game of a series [against Boston in the 2008 ALCS], and that’s another experience that we can draw from.”

mgonzales@tribune.com