ARLINGTON, Texas – The Texas Rangers invested more than $100 million in Yu Darvish to help the club make another run at the postseason this year.
It was an Aug. 6 outing in Boston that set the stage for Darvish to be the Texas pitcher for Friday's do-or-die wild-card game against Baltimore.
Darvish allowed six runs in 6 2/3 innings in that 9-2 loss to Boston. After that game he had a talk with Texas manager Ron Washington. It wasn't the typical come to Wash meeting Texas fans have become accustomed to seeing when starter Derek Holland struggles on the mound.
It was instead a trust-your-stuff conversation between manager and a right-hander who can throw as many pitchers at anyone in the game. The talk worked as Darvish is 5-1 since then and hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in any start, reeling off eight consecutive quality starts.
The Rangers are hoping he can extend that number to nine against the Orioles so the Rangers can advance to the American League Division Series against New York. Texas manager Ron Washington said Thursday before the Rangers lost the AL West title game to Oakland that Darvish would start Game 1 of the playoffs whether it was Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
That shows the kind of confidence the club has in him and the way he's been pitching.
"He's been doing a real good job of executing," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "He's done a real good job of recognizing what's working and what's not working. He's not trying to force things. He just competes now. If he walks someone or someone gets a base hit, he does the next thing that any pitcher would want to do, make a pitch, try to get a double play or make a pitch to get an out. He's settled in in that respect."
Statistically the Boston start was bad. He allowed a career-high 11 hits and walked four. But he also threw a season-high 123 pitches and was getting beat not because he wasn't throwing the pitches he needed to, but because Boston was just having a good night at the plate.
That's what Washington stressed to him and the message got through.
"After that game there was so much negativity going around I thought it was time I made him see the positives in the negative," Washington said. "Everything that happens bad there's good in it. Everyone just wanted to look in the bad. I just wanted him to see I saw the good."
There's been plenty of good this year for Darvish, who has won 16 games and struck out 221 batters, the second-highest total ever for an AL rookie.
He has been everything the Rangers had hoped for when they signed him to a $56 million deal that also included a posting fee of $51.7 million. Now he's pitching in the biggest game of the season for the Rangers.
It's a spot the Rangers thought Darvish was capable of handling when they were deciding whether to pursue him. While he may not be an ace yet, he has exceeded the club's first-year expectations and there's no reason to think he can't continue to excel.
"I remember one thing that came up was he had the potential to be that front-of-the-rotation guy but until somebody does it, the term ace or No. 1, that's earned," Texas general manager Jon Daniels said. "It's not something you can put on a guy. He's showing some attributes that you'd like to see that maybe put him in that conversation at some point in time. But it's a little premature to really peg that on him right now. Bottom line is we don't need that. We just need him to go out and give us a chance to win."
Darvish, who was not available to the media Thursday at Rangers Ballpark because the club had the day off, has done that more often than not. He's cut down on the variety of pitches he uses in every outing and instead focuses on just the ones that are working well for him. In addition to the quality-start stretch, he has also cut down on his walk total.
He went through a seven-start stretch in which he walked at least three. He hasn't walked more than two in his last seven starts and has surrendered just 20 hits in his last 36 2/3 innings.
Ace or not, Darvish has Baltimore's attention. The Orioles haven't faced Darvish yet this season but they know they'll have work to do Friday to beat him.
"He's impressive," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "They've got a return for everything they invested. He's pretty special."
