Rangers recap: Darvish dominant (again) against Astros

Yu Darvish dominated (again) at Minute Maid Park as the Rangers beat the Astros 6-1 Monday night to start a three-game set.

How Rangers pitchers fared: Yu Darvish held the Astros without a hit through 4 2/3 innings before Alex Bregman singled on a shallow blooper that left-fielder Nomar Mazara couldn’t keep in his glove. Carlos Beltran scored from second on the play to pull the Astros to within 2-1. Darvish struck out four and walked three but only one Astros’ base runner moved past first base against him. Jeremy Jeffress pitched the final two innings to close it out. Darvish earned his first win since May 21.

How Rangers hitters fared: The Rangers scored twice in the second with two outs. Jonathan Lucroy singled before Rougned Odor tripled to the wall in left-center field. Joey Gallo followed with a triple off the top of the wall in right field. Gallo tried to score when the relay throw got by the catcher but he was thrown out at the plate. Elvis Andrus walked with one out in the sixth and scored on Adrian Beltre’s double to right to push the Rangers’ lead to 3-1. In the eighth, Delino DeShields walked and Shin-Soo Choo reached on a bunt single before Nomar Mazara ripped a two-out, three-run homer to dead center field. It stretched the Rangers’ lead to 6-1.

Notables: The Rangers last had consecutive triples in an inning on Aug. 3, 2006 when Hank Blalock and Mark DeRosa did it in the sixth inning against the Angels’ Jered Weaver ... Beltre played in career game No. 2,730, which ties him with Mel Ott for 28th all-time. Derek Jeter is next on the list with 2,747 games ... Beltre singled in the fourth, hit No. 2,954 of his career. He’s seven from tying Sam Crawford for 32nd all-time.

This story was originally published June 12, 2017 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Darvish dominant (again) against Astros."