Texas Rangers: Darvish Shines With Season High 12 K’s

Any questions about the Texas Rangers Ace Yu Darvish possibly having fatigue or hitting a wall in the month of September were answered tonight. Yu Darvish delivered a performance that proved he is ready for the post season.

Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish pitched 6 innings while only allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and had season best 12 strikeouts all on 97 pitches (70 strikes). This outing was exactly what Yu needed leading into what hopes to be a long playoff run for the Texas Rangers. Yu may have just opened up the door to have a conversation on whether or not he should be the starter for the first game of the playoffs.

The Rangers won’t know who they play until after the wildcard game this upcoming Tuesday but with the recent outings by Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels, it may not matter which one of them takes the mound. This Ranger team is having a magical season and their offense seems to be clicking even when the pitching isn’t.

Big names such as Desmond, Odor, and Moreland have been struggling at the plate but the rest of the team just stays after it and picks them up somehow.

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Tonight may have been the spark that those players need as Rougned Odor went 2/4 with a homer. Ian Desmond went to the plate 4 times, got 1 walk and hit 1 time while rounding the bases for a run on a Beltre single. Mitch Moreland hit a hard single while going 1/3, hopefully he is hitting his good streak at the right time.

The Texas Rangers bullpen continues to look good as they set a franchise record of scoreless innings at 29.3. Which beat the mark of 28.1 set May 1-10 in 2008. Tony Barnette continues to look good while returning from injury by going .2 innings while allowing a walk but getting 2 ground outs all on 15 pitches. Jake Diekman followed with getting his only batter of the night to ground out, ending the inning.

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Matt Bush would then come on in the 8th to provide a scoreless inning by only allowing 1 hit that was a double and getting the other 3 outs, all on 17 pitches. Closer Sam Dyson then took the mound and recorded his 38th save of the series to secure home field advantage for all of the playoffs.