MLB: Yu Darvish Strikes Out 14 in Sweeping the Red Sox, 4-3
By Brad Rowland
The best record in the American League was at stake when the Texas Rangers hosted the Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, and the Rangers grabbed pole position. Texas starter Yu Darvish fanned 14 Red Sox in route to a 7-inning, 3-run performance, and the Rangers got two, big home runs from Nelson Cruz and Mitch Moreland in the win.
Darvish extended his Major-League leading strikeout total to a gawdy 72 (in just 45.2 innings) with the performance, and his current K-rate of 14.19 is absolutely staggering. He needed 127 pitches to get through 7 innings, which is cause for concern, but the bats bailed him out in the late innings after he departed in a 3-3 tie, as Adrian Beltre singled to right and brought in Elvis Andrus for the walk-off win.
On the Boston side, the Red Sox got 6 strong innings from Jon Lester (3 ER, 7 K) and yet another home run from the scorching-hot David Ortiz (now slugging .840 on the year), but it wasn’t enough as Clayton Mortensen allowed the winning run in the 9th with Andrew Bailey waiting in the wings.
The league-leading 20th win for Texas was a big one, as it completed a 3-game sweep of the previously-hot Red Sox, and it is a testament to the Texas organization that they’ve performed to this level. For reference, they lost Josh Hamilton in the off-season and have lost their “#1 starter” in Matt Harrison for months with a back issue. Even through the turmoil, however, the Rangers are in the driver’s seat in the AL West, and with the amount of comfort they’ve drawn from that position in recent seasons, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see them stay there.