Rangers' Darvish looks to stay hot against the Tigers (May 21, 2017)
DETROIT -- Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish has the freedom to pitch deeper into games this season. He's taken advantage of the opportunity, delivering a quality start virtually every time he's taken the mound.
The Texas ace has lasted at least six innings in all but one of his nine outings and he will take a 4-2 record and 2.76 ERA into his nationally-televised outing at Detroit on Sunday night. Darvish has thrown at least 95 pitches in eight of his nine outings with a high of 125.
He's already pitched 58 2/3 innings after going 100 1/3 over 17 starts last season in his return from Tommy John surgery, which cost him the 2015 season.
"I love his desire to go deeper," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said on Saturday. "We took the kid gloves off of the pitch count and he's responded very well. One of the better parts of what he's done is how he's pitched with runners in scoring position -- being able to be very stingy and bullish on not allowing any hard contact and giving up very minimal base hits in those situations."
Banister's club saw its 10-game winning streak halted on Saturday night, as the Tigers homered four times in a 9-3 victory.
Darvish was dominant in his last start, holding Philadelphia to one run on four hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings. He's 3-0 with a 2.38 ERA over his last five starts. He's overpowered the Tigers in all six of his career starts against them, winning each one while posting a 3.46 ERA.
"Coming off last year, to come back from Tommy John, I've been very pleased and impressed with what Yu has been able to do and his mindset and competitive edge," Banister said. "I think I'm more impressed with how he approaches each game and the different manner of how he pitches. There's been games where he's pitched with his fastball-changeup combo, he's been fastball-slider and then he's gone fastball-slider-curve. It's been a little bit different each outing, based on his game plan and how he feels."
Darvish will be opposed by the Tigers' No. 5 starter Matthew Boyd (2-3, 5.18 ERA), who is coming off one of the worst outings of his young career. Boyd couldn't get out of the third inning in his last start Tuesday and he was charged with seven runs on eight hits against Baltimore.
Boyd is eager to erase that memory.
"I'm ready for the next one," he said. "I just came out of my mechanics a little bit in that third inning. I didn't locate pitches as well and didn't get away with any of them. That's what it comes down to."
Boyd has a 1-3 record and 5.24 ERA in four career outings against the Rangers. The one victory came last season when he tossed seven scoreless innings.
"They've been good a handful of years now and they're really doing it right now," Boyd said of Texas. "You always welcome a challenge like this. (Darvish) is not in the lineup, so I don't have to face him. I'm going against their lineup and I've just got to take care of what I can control."
