Darvish roughed up but wins Rangers debut
The Texas Rangers spent all spring trying to make Japanese teammate Yu Darvish comfortable and in his major league debut Monday showered him with the greatest gift possible. Runs, and plenty of them. Darvish, after nearly being knocked out of the game after a four-run first inning against the Seattle Mariners, survived to last 52⁄ innings, long enough to collect his first major league win in the Rangers’ 11-5 victory.
It wasn’t a pretty pitching line, but he walked off the field to a thunderous standing ovation.
He yielded eight hits and five earned runs, with four walks, five strikeouts and a hit batsman.
Darvish, who permitted nine of the first 15 batters he faced to reach base, hardly looked at the outset like the guy who yielded a career 1.99 ERA in Japan. He needed 42 pitches to get out of the first inning, issuing two four-pitch walks and throwing 22 strikes. Yet he settled down after the second inning and wound up retiring 10 consecutive batters until he couldn’t finish the sixth.
It was a far cry from the first two innings, when he was unable to command his fastball or anything else. Countryman Ichiro Suzuki provided a rude welcome to the big leagues, driving in two runs with a single and a double in his first two atbats. Kyle Seager had three RBI in his first two plate ap- pearances. Everyone in the lineup but DH Dustin Ackley reached base against Darvish by the third inning.
Yet with Nelson Cruz providing a three-run homer and Josh Hamilton hitting two homers, Darvish settled down, delighting the crowd who came to witness his debut.
The Rangers, who averaged 29,449 in their six weekday home games against the Mariners last year, announced a crowd of 42,003 for the game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The game captivated all of Japan, too. It was televised live nationally at 9 a.m. Tuesday.