Yu Darvish cruises early, but Athletics chase him in sixth to even series

Yu Darvish was rolling and then the wheels came flying off. After five one-hit innings, the Athletics scored four in the sixth to even the series with a 4-2 win Tuesday night at Oakland Coliseum.

How Rangers pitchers fared: Darvish cruised through the first five innings but lost command in the sixth. He walked the lead-off hitter and and then surrendered a two-run, game-tying homer to former Rangers Adam Rosales. A double and walk later was it for Darvish, who was replaced by Tony Barnette. Barnette walked his first batter Jed Lowrie beofr Khris Davis’ sacrifice fly to center scored Jaff Decker to give the A’s a 3-2 lead. Left-hander Dario Alvarez was brought in to face left-hitting Stephen Vogt, who was then pinch-hit for by Ryon Healy. Healy singled on a blooper to center field to score Yonder Alonso for a 4-2 lead. Darvish was charged for four earned runs on three hits and a two walks. He struck out three. Keone Kela pitched a scoreless eighth.

How Rangers hitters fared: The Rangers scored twice in the sixth to take the lead. Jurickson Profar reached on a fielding error at first and moved to second on a wild pitch. He scored Elvis Andrus’ single to center. Andrus stole second base and third base before scoring with a head-first slide under the tag on a fielder’s choice to shortstop by Nomar Mazara. Both runs were unearned. The last 10 Rangers batters were retired.

Notable: A’s starter Andrew Triggs’ streak of 17 2/3 innings without an earned run is the longest season-opening streak by a starting pitcher in Athletics’ history.

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 11:57 PM with the headline "Yu Darvish cruises early, but Athletics chase him in sixth to even series."