Rangers’ Yu Darvish falls one out shy of perfect game
It’s still possible for Yu Darvish’s season to get better.
The Texas Rangers starter fell one batter short of pitching a perfect game against the Houston Astros in his first start of the season.
Astros shortstop Marwin Gonzalez singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, breaking up what would have been the second perfect game in Rangers history.
The 26-year-old right-hander was pulled after allowing the hit. He threw 111 pitches in 8 2/3 innings, striking out 14 batters.
Darvish went 16-9 in his first MLB season last year with a 3.90 earned run average. He pitched for for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan for seven seasons before signing a six-year contract with the Rangers prior to last season.
Rangers relief pitcher Michael Kirkman gave up a single to Astros second baseman Jose Altuve before striking out pinch-hitter J.D. Martinez to give Texas a 7-0 victory over Houston.
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