Andrus, Darvish guide Rangers to 5-0 win

Elvis Andrus hit two two-run home runs Saturday for the first multi-homer game of his career, and Yu Darvish tossed seven scoreless innings as the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 5-0.

Andrus went deep in the second and sixth innings, leaving him with career-highs in home runs (eight) and RBIs (68). He was the only everyday player in the lineup the day after the Rangers clinched their second straight American League West title because he is dealing with a cold and couldn’t celebrate Friday night.

Darvish allowed only three base runners on two singles and a walk against the same lineup that rattled him for seven runs in five innings a week ago. The right-hander struck out nine batters and needed 99 pitches.　

Hitting: A lineup that included seven players that spent at least a part of the season at Triple A Round Rock, an eighth rehabbed there, got a lift from the lone veteran who played. ... Elvis Andrus connected for two homers, the first multi-homer game of his career, and matched his career-high with four RBIs. ... Andrus connected again Raul Alcantara in the second and again in the sixth. Both shots were two-run homers. ... Jared Hoying and Robinson Chirinos had two doubles and Ryan Rua collected two singles as the Rangers finished with nine hits.　

Pitching: Yu Darvish arguably had his best start of the season against the same team that handed him his worst start only a week earlier. ... Darvish allowed a two-out single in the first before retiring the next 11 A’s batters. ... A one-out infield single followed by Darvish’s lone walk in the fifth gave the A’s the only threat against Darvish, who induced two flyouts to end the inning. ... He finished by retiring his final eight batters faced. ... Alex Claudio allowed two hits and got only two outs in the eighth, and Tanner Scheppers issued a walk to load the bases before getting Stephen Vogt to fly out. ... Scheppers allowed a leadoff double in the ninth and the next hitter before giving way to Jake Diekman. The lefty issued a walk but got the next two hitters to pop to second base to end it.

This story was originally published September 24, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Andrus, Darvish guide Rangers to 5-0 win."