Yu Darvish made all kinds of history when he took a 1-0 loss on Saturday to the Oakland A's. Imagine the craziness surrounding the clubhouse Thursday night in Tampa Bay when tehe Rays beat Darvish 1-0. It's not a crazy thought. It could happen.
Darvish is pitching at the top of his game again after a bad start earlier this month in Oakland that might have been his worst in a Rangers uniform and might have put the nail in the Rangers' AL West crown hopes.
Now, the Rangers and Darvish will be opposed by Tampa Bay and Matt Moore, who will be looking to send Texas packing with a four-game series loss.
Moore is in the midst of a great year, as is Darvish. He's 15-3 and has an ERA just a tick over 3.00. He's also owned the Rangers over the course of his career, including a shutout win over Texas in Game 1 of the 2011 ALDS — just weeks after he had made his big-league debut.
Want some numbers to instill some confidence from Yu in his offensive teammates? Well, you've come to the wrong place. But there are plenty of numbers supporting the idea that Thursday's game could be another 1-0 affair.
The guys currently on the Rangers' active roster are 3-for-43 all-time against Moore with eight walks and 23 strikeouts. One of those three hits is from Alex Rios, who is 1-for-11 over his career against Moore with eight strikeouts.
In other words, it's going to be a rough day for offense from the Rangers' perspective. They just have to hope Darvish can do his work and they can scrape across a run or two or they could easily find themselves out of postseason position come Friday morning when they head to Kansas City.
