It's now been a stretch of five starts, and Texas Rangers ace pitcher Yu Darvish has allowed eight runs over that time. He's struck out 41 batters and walked 10. He has zero wins. His only decision in that span of five starts was a 1-0 loss to Oakland, and the Rangers are 1-4 as a team in those starts.
The Rangers can't afford to be losing Yu Darvish starts, not when Matt Harrison is out until September. Not with Alexi Ogando on the disabled list for the second time this season. Not while relying on two rookies — Nick Tepesch and Justin Grimm — to pitch every fifth day. It's just not going to fly for too much longer, not with the Oakland A's in the midst of a tear to end all tears and coming to town for four games starting Monday, with Darvish scheduled to make his next start on Tuesday against that same club.
Of course, Darvish is saying all the right things about his lack of run support.
"We have to keep our heads up and keep believing," Darvish said after the game, a 3-1 Rangers loss, through his translator.
So yeah, Darvish seems to be the ultimate teammate and it's highly unlikely he'll voice frustration like Cliff Lee did in Minnesota on Thursday night following a victory, but for his team's sake, this trend has to stop.
