Former Rangers star Darvish dazzles Mets in winning Dodgers debut

Yu Darvish traded his Rangers blue for Dodgers blue officially on Friday night and was dazzling.

The Texas Rangers’ pitching ace of the past 4  1/2 seasons made his first start for this new club, the Los Angeles Dodgers, against the New York Mets at Citi Field in New York.

Rebounding from a 10-run meltdown in his final start for the Rangers when he was inadvertently tipping pitches, Darvish allowed only three hits, all singles, in the first seven innings. He struck out 10 and needed 99 pitches for the first 21 outs.

With the Rangers, Darvish had the fifth-worst run support.

Darvish left with the Dodgers comfortably ahead by six runs and the LA bullpen added two scoreless innings to finish a 6-0, four-hit victory.

Chris Taylor hit a leadoff homer against Jacob deGrom, and Mets nemesis Chase Utley added a two-run shot as Los Angeles improved baseball’s best record to 77-32 with its 11th victory in 12 games. Yasiel Puig also went deep for the Dodgers, who have outscored New York 42-11 in winning all five meetings this season.

On the best extended roll by a National League team since World War II, the Dodgers are 42-7 since June 7 – a stretch unequaled in franchise history. They have won 22 of 25 since July 4, with all three losses coming against Atlanta.

Including the 22-10 debacle to Miami in Darvish’s last start for Texas on July 26, the Rangers had lost 10 of Darvish’s last 12 starts, and he left with a 4.01 ERA for the season.

There was none of that in his first Dodgers start.

Before his start Friday night, the Dodgers were already impressed with Darvish’s imposing presence up close, according to the Orange County Register. He is listed at 6-feet-5, 225 pounds.

“It’s impressive how big he is,” Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said, via the OC Register, after Darvish’s bullpen session Wednesday afternoon. “You can look at film all you want to. It’s another thing to see him with your own eyes.”

Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “He’s more physical (than I expected). You see him on TV. You see the No. 11. Obviously he’s got a great presence about him. Then when you get in front of him, yeah, he’s very physical.”

Darvish was traded to the Dodgers minutes before the nonwaiver trade deadline July 31. The Rangers received hitting prospect Willie Calhoun, an outfielder at Triple A; 6-foot-4 right-hander A.J. Alexy; and shortstop Brendon Davis.

Calhoun had two hits, including a home run, with Round Rock on Thursday night.

This story includes material from The Associated Press.

This story was originally published August 4, 2017 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Former Rangers star Darvish dazzles Mets in winning Dodgers debut."