SEATTLE — Yu Darvish felt bad enough after his Monday start in Seattle that he apologized to Texas manager Ron Washington.
The apology wasn't needed.
Maybe not facing the Mariners is all that Darvish needs to continue to be one of the best starters the Rangers have.
For the second time this season Darvish struggled against the Mariners as he lasted just four innings as his control eluded him in a 6-1 loss at Safeco Field.
Darvish walked a season high six, falling just one free pass short of matching his career high. He only allowed four hits but labored throughout his start and threw 96 pitches in his four innings.
That left Darvish feeling apologetic even if Washington said it wasn't necessary.
"I wasn't able to go deep in the game as starter should or giving up those runs with only four hits," Darvish said. "Overall the approach and the substance of the game wasn't that good. Even when I said that, Washington said 'Hey we all have days like that.' He reassured me a little bit."
Darvish has allowed 19 earned runs in his nine starts for the Rangers and nine of those have come in his 9 2/3 innings against the Mariners. He's walked 10 against Seattle and struck out 10. He's 5-1 with a 1.94 when he's not facing the Mariners but that ERA balloons to 8.38 against the Mariners.
He ran hot and cold Monday night and that was on display early. He struck out the first batter but then walked Michael Saunders. Ichiro Suzuki followed with an RBI triple as the walk came back to hurt Darvish. He finished the inning by striking out the next two batters but ran into big trouble with his tightrope act in the third.
The Mariners scored three times in that inning on just two hits as a single, a walk and a throwing error by Josh Hamilton helped pave the way for three runs. Three more walks in the fourth did Darvish in and led to another run as Darvish said he was struggling with his mechanics.
"The early part of the game I was okay with my command," Darvish said. "But somewhere in the middle when I needed to throw a strike, I struggled to throw strikes in those situations."
Of the six batters he walked, three came around to score.
"The command wasn't there," Washington said. "It wasn't like they hit him around the ballpark. It was the walks that killed him. Ichiro got an RBI and then he got another base hit for an RBI. We threw one away. A lot of the runs on the bag were there via the walk. He threw a lot of pitches."
Darvish and Washington talked during the game after the fourth inning with Washington telling Darvish that he wasn't pitching the fifth. That's when Darvish offered up the apology.
"This is one game you've got to chalk up and learn from it and hopefully more forward," Washington said. "That was a lot of pitches in a short period of time. I just tried to get him to understand that you have nights like this and we need him for the whole year, not just tonight. He said 'He's sorry' but he didn't have to apologize. He expected more."
The Rangers would have needed Darvish to be at his best if he was to keep pace with Hernandez.
The Seattle right-hander allowed just six hits in his eight innings and Texas didn't score until Mitch Moreland hit a solo homer in the eighth inning. Moreland had two of the six hits Texas had in the game but that doesn't mean it didn't have opportunities.
Texas had its chances early against Hernandez, getting two hits in the second inning. A double play ended that threat. A one-out double didn't lead to anything in the third and that's about the time Hernandez (4-3) settled into a groove.
"He had good stuff," said Rangers catcher Mike Napoli, who was 0 for 2 with a walk. "He was throwing strikes. He made a pitch when he had to. He's tough and you've really got to battle and he got us today."
