Yu Darvish a winner in return to Rangers’ rotation

In his opening act of 2016, after missing all of 2015 and the final seven weeks of 2014, Yu Darvish didn’t look as if he had been gone that long.

The hitters didn’t have much of a chance with his slider. They had even less chance with a fastball that had a little extra zip on it, up to 98 mph, and some serious sink.

He was tough to hit, allowing only one run on three hits and walk. He struck out seven.

He did it all on 81 pitches in just five innings, which was all the Texas Rangers would allow him to work in his first start off the disabled list 14 months after he had Tommy John surgery.

Yet, it was plenty.

Darvish’s work earned him the win in his comeback effort, with help from a two-run homer by Adrian Beltre and a solo shot by the struggling Mitch Moreland in a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 46,950 at a sold-out Globe Life Park.

“The impressive part of it is he seemed to be in control of himself, in control of the situation and ultra aware,” manager Jeff Banister said. “He showed up Yu Darvish tonight.”

Among the strikeout victims were former National League MVP Andrew McCutchen in the first and David Freese, the breaker of Rangers hearts, in the fourth. Darvish struck out two in the second and in the fifth when the Pirates got their only run.

With his pitch count hovering just below the 85 to 90 pitches the Rangers had allotted for him, he didn’t return for the sixth inning. He wasn’t about to fault the Rangers for having his best interests in mind.

“Physically I felt like I could pitch more innings,” Darvish said. “Mentally I felt like, ‘I’m done here.’ I was good.”

He said that he isn’t quite where he needs to be before he will feel confident enough to tell the coaching staff that he can keep going.

“When I can throw around 100 pitches and respond, I think that’s when I can say I’m back,” he said.

Things didn’t start as Darvish had hoped, with the first batter he faced starting the game with a single. John Jaso got to third after a two-base throwing error as Elvis Andrus tried to turn a Gregory Polanco lineout into a double play, but Darvish got Freese to bounce to third to end the inning.

Darvish completed the second inning on seven pitches — a three-pitch strikeout of Starling Marte, a first-pitch flyout by Francisco Cervelli, and a three-pitch strikeout of Matt Joyce.

“That’s shutdown stuff,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

The only time Darvish seemed to be upset with anything was after allowing an RBI single that Darvish allowed to No. 9 hitter Cole Figueroa. He wasn’t upset to yield a two-out run, but rather with not getting a close call from plate ump Dana DeMuth.

But it had become abundantly clear well before then that the Pirates weren’t going to have much success with Darvish’s fastball.

“He started throwing that sinker, and that sinker at 97, 98, if it’s tough to catch, I know it’s tough to hit,” catcher Bobby Wilson said. “Even the sliders, the cutters that he threw kept them off balance. But to look up there and see 97, 98 on the board, it was nice.”

So, too, was pitching with a lead. The Rangers scored three in the first inning, two coming on Beltre’s homer. His ninth homer of the season gave him 1,501 RBIs and made him only the 54th player in MLB history to hit that mark.

Next up on the all-time RBIs list is Mickey Mantle at 1,509.

“It just means I’ve been playing for a long time,” said Beltre, the standard answer he gives for each career milestone. “That’s what it means. When you play for a long time, you get to accumulate numbers. And that’s the case here.”

Beltre, who made a nifty diving stop in the seventh, said that he saw midseason form from Darvish. Anyone who was asked about Darvish raved about the performance.

Darvish seemed most pleased with his fastball, which had more velocity on it than in his rehab starts and even before he had the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow replaced March 17, 2015. He was making his first start since Aug. 9, 2014.

But he refused to say he was content.

“I’m not going to be satisfied with just one outing after Tommy John,” said Darvish, who won his first game since July 28, 2014. “I’ve got the rest of the season to go.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 10:55 PM with the headline "Yu Darvish a winner in return to Rangers’ rotation."