Rangers scratch together four runs to take down Padres

During this rough start to the Texas Rangers’ 2017 season, the starting pitching has been about the only consistently reliable aspect of the team.

A.J. Griffin’s complete-game shutout Tuesday in San Diego was the crowning example of Rangers’ starters at their best through April and the early part of May.

Yu Darvish, the Rangers’ lone remaining ace with Cole Hamels on the disabled list, has so far taken to the void left in the rotation and lived up to the task.

He did it again Wednesday on a night without his best stuff. Like an ace should, Darvish turned in a quality start despite lacking dominating stuff. He shook off two early homers in the first two innings and gave his team a chance to win. With the help of his bullpen, the Rangers held off the Padres 4-3 at Globe Life Park.

Despite being outhit, the Rangers offense scored on a wild pitch, a balk and a throwing error. Jeremy Jeffress, Alex Claudio, Keone Kela and Matt Bush combined on three scoreless innings to close it out. Bush earned his second save and Jeffress earned the win.

“Sometimes you need games like that,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “It wasn’t necessarily pretty offensively but you capitalized on some situations. I think good things happen when you put good at-bats together.”

Darvish didn’t figure in the decision but he rebounded after a rough start to strike out six and walked none but allowed seven hits in six innings. Two of those were homers, a two-out solo homer by Wil Myers in the first and Erick Aybar in the second.

Another run in the second gave the Padres a 3-1 lead, the first hit against Darvish with a runner in scoring position since September 2016, an 0 for 36 string snapped by Matt Szczur’s run-scoring single.

Darvish regrouped, however, and retired 13 of the final 16 batters he faced.

The offense scratched together four runs, scoring on a wild pitch in the first, a balk in the fifth and a throwing error in the seventh to take the 4-3 lead. Shin-Soo Choo scored the first run on a wild pitch by Padres’ starter Luis Perdomo in the first. Choo was 3 for 3 with a walk and an RBI.

“I try to get better all the time in the batter’s box,” said Choo, who raised his average from .248 to .269. “San Diego played better than us tonight, but good base running, fewer errors tonight. It’s the first game of our homestand so hopefully we’ll have a good one.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 12:07 AM with the headline "Rangers scratch together four runs to take down Padres."