Texas Rangers: Yu Darvish Leads Team To Victory In Houston

The Texas Rangers defeat the Houston Astros 6-1, improving to 2-7 against Houston this season. Texas improves to 31-32, remaining in fourth place in the American League West standings, however they’re 12 games behind from the first-place Astros. Texas is in a four-game winning streak, and the last they were, they went on to win ten straight. Let’s hope they can do the same, except this time they win than ten straight.

With Houston losing two aces and coming off a series loss against the Los Angeles Angels, the Texas Rangers decided they needed to beat Houston to avenge the humiliation and pain Houston caused them so far this season in the first eight games between the two clubs. Texas never trailed in this game. Excellent pitching, balanced defense, and decent hitting paved the way to victory for the Rangers. In any case, they need to keep it up.

Darvish was on the mound for this game. He pitched 7.0 innings, allowing a season-low one hit, one run, and striking out four batters, improving to 6-4, thus snapping his two-game losing streak. Houston having the league’s best record, as well as an offense that’s in the top ten in hits and scoring runs, Darvish really proved himself on the mound. In any case, he must keep this up. If he can, the Rangers will beg him to re-sign and remain in Arlington.

More from Texas Rangers News

• Early 2023 MLB mock draft has Texas Rangers selecting an Ohtani-lite
• 3 Texas Rangers outfield trade targets not named Bryan Reynolds
• Did Jacob deGrom really mean what he said at his Texas Rangers press conference?
• Martin Perez accepting the qualifying offer looking like solid deal for the Rangers
• 4 outfielders the Texas Rangers can still pursue this winter

Jeremy Jeffress relieved Darvish in the eight inning. Pitching the eighth and ninth innings, he allowed one hit, no runs, and striking out one batter.

Pitching’s improved ERA of 4.13 jumps them up to 13th in the league. However, they drop to 14th in hits with 548 allowed this year. They also drop to 17th in runs allowed and they fall to 29th in strikeouts with 434. Regardless, excellent pitching in this win. Forcing Houston to go 2-for-29, leaving six men on base is humiliating for a red-hot team. In any case, it must keep it up.

Offense finished 9-for-34, striking out nine times. Offense’s streak of striking out at least eight times increases to 17 straight games. Adrian Beltre and Rougned Odor are the ones with multiple hits in this game. For Odor, this is the second time in his last ten games, having more than one hit in a game. For Beltre, it’s his fourth. In the second inning, Texas took a 2-0 lead thanks to back-to-back triples by Odor and Joey Gallo. Odor had tripled after Jonathan Lucroy had singled with two outs. In the sixth, Beltre doubled, allowing Elvis Andrus to score, making it a 3-1 Texas lead. In the eight inning, Nomar Mazara blasted a three-run homer, giving Texas a 6-1 lead. Offense is still struggling with strikeouts, but in the last four, they’ve played well enough for the win. Regardless, the striking out rate must drop.

Offense’s batting average of .243 moves them one spot to 23rd in the league. They’re still 24th in hits with 513, and they drop to 12th in scoring runs with 302. They also remain sixth in the league in strikeouts with 570.

Dillon Gee steps on the mound for game two. He’s looking to get his first win since 2015.