Darvish Leads Rangers Past Astros

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Starting pitcher Yu Darvish took advantage of an extra day of rest to lead the Texas Rangers to a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros Friday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Darvish pitched a strong 8 innings, giving up just 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 11.  He gave up only 2 walks, which is his MLB career low.  His teammates, who have seen pitchers struggle of late, were appreciative of Darvish’s effort, “He was great,” said designated hitter Michael Young. “Any time he’s on the mound, we feel confident that he’s going to go do his job well. He did a great job for us. Eight innings is big, especially when our pitching staff could use innings from our starters. It was definitely big for us.”  

The Rangers were held scoreless the first 4 innings by Astros starter Jordan Lyles.  In the 5th inning, an error and a hit batter gave life to the Rangers offense.  Ian Kinsler, on base as a result of the error, scored on a Michael Young single.  Elvis Andrus, after being hit by a pitch, scored on a single by Adrian Beltre.   Young and Beltre score on a David Murphy single, and Nelson Cruz is brought home by a Yorvit Torrealba single.  The 5 Texas runs were enough to send Lyles to the dugout.

In the 8th inning, Mitch Moreland hit his 10th home run of the season to seal the game for the Rangers.

The Rangers (38-27) will host the Astros again tonight at 6:15pm at the Ballpark.  Justin Grimm will be making his MLB debut on the mound for the Rangers, having been called up from the Frisco RoughRiders.