Rangers' Bats Come Alive for Darvish In 14-3 Win

Prince Fielder had a pair of RBI doubles to end a drought of 39 at-bats without an extra-base hit and Yu Darvish worked into the seventh inning to earn his first victory in almost a month as the Texas Rangers trounced the Los Angeles Angels 14-3 on Sunday.

 
J.P. Arencibia hit his first home run and Michael Choice added a three-run shot for Texas.
 
Darvish (2-1) shrugged off first-inning homers by Erick Aybar and Albert Pujols to get his first victory since April 6 at Tampa Bay. He allowed three runs, seven hits and no walks in 6 1-3 innings, with nine strikeouts. His teammates scored just two fewer runs than they totaled in his five previous starts combined. The right-hander is 7-1 with a 3.82 ERA in 11 career starts against the Angels and has won his last six decisions against them
 
Angels starter Tyler Skaggs (2-1) lasted just 2 2-3 innings in the shortest of his 19 big league starts, giving up six runs.
 
Pujols shrugged off an 0-2 pitch by Darvish that glanced off the front of his helmet in the fifth inning as he closed his eyes and turned his head to the right. He remained in the game after a trainer checked on him at first base.
 
The Rangers built a 5-2 lead after two innings with Fielder's identical run-scoring doubles -- both line drives over the head of first baseman C.J. Cron and just inside the foul line.
 
Arencibia, who put left fielder Raul Ibanez against the bullpen fence on his bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the first, made it 6-2 in the third with his homer to left-center. Choice, who had four RBIs, increased the margin to 9-2 in the fourth with his homer to left-center against Kevin Jepsen.
 
Alex Rios capped a five-run ninth with a two-out bases-loaded triple against Nick Maronde. All five runs were unearned after right fielder Collin Cowgill dropped Josh Wilson's flyball for a two-base error.
 
Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus, who began Sunday in a 4 for 49 slump, was 1 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and a walk after manager Ron Washington dropped him to ninth in the order for the first time since April 17, 2010. Andrus had started in the 2-hole in each of the first 30 games this season. He batted as low as eighth in the lineup six times during the previous two years, and got a hit in each game.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
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