Darvish, Lucroy connect to cap Rangers’ sweep of Athletics

Yu Darvish mentioned the other day that catcher Jonathan Lucroy remains a vital batterymate even when he’s struggling at the plate.

It’s not completely clear exactly how Yu Darvish knows this because Lucroy has been an offensive dynamo ever since joining the Rangers via a trade on Aug. 1.

Lucroy hit his seventh homer with Texas on Wednesday night to help the Rangers sweep the Oakland Athletics with a 6-2 win at Globe Life Park.

Lucroy’s bases-loaded, two-out, two-run double in the seventh opened up a four-run lead. He has 14 RBIs in 12 starts for the Rangers. His 20 homers are a career-high and he’s on pace to surpass his career-best 82 RBIs at 64. He has seven homers in August. The rest of the Rangers have combined for eight.

In the seventh, with the tying run at third and Coco Crisp at the plate with a 1-2 count, Lucroy blocked Darvish’s 91 mph cutter that was outside and in the dirt. Lucroy took the moment to catch his breath and have a conversation on the mound with Darvish.

Darvish had just passed the 90-pitch mark and was trying to hold off an A’s rally that began with two infield singles. With runners on the corners and one out, he struck out Max Muncy on four pitches, all cutters between 88 and 90 mph.

After Lucroy’s visit, he struck out Crisp for the third consecutive time with a 94 mph fastball to end the inning and preserve a 3-2 lead.

“That was a huge inning for him,” manager Jeff Banister said. “To be able to come back and be able to shut that inning down is really a huge plus for Yu. It was a big momentum builder for him. A tremendous inning, in my opinion, going forward.”

Darvish started the eighth for the first time since June 28, 2014 but was quickly replaced after a leadoff double on his second pitch of the inning. He struck out nine, walked one and allowed two runs on eight hits to improve to 4-3.

“I think that’s one of my strengths, to make adjustments during the game and I think Lucroy is on the same page,” said Darvish, who beat the A’s for the first time since 2012. “That’s what we do.”

Jake Diekman retired the side in the eighth and Matt Bush struck out the side in the ninth to close it out.

“Darvish threw a great game and our bullpen shut it down,” said Andrus, who was 3 for 4 with two runs scored. “Every time he commands the zone he’s hard to beat.”

Crisp led off the game with a homer to right to give Oakland a quick 1-0 lead. Lucroy tied it with a solo homer in the fourth. Jake Smolinski started the fifth with a homer to reclaim a 2-1 lead.

The Rangers rallied to reclaim the lead with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Ian Desmond’s opposite-field single to right scored Elvis Andrus and Delino DeShields, who had singled and doubled, to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. DeShields, Desmond, Andrus and Lucroy combined for nine of the Rangers’ 11 hits.

Andrus and Drew Stubbs started the seventh with singles and move to second and third on a double steal. DeShields walked before Desmond’s bases-loaded single to right pushed Texas’ lead to 4-2.

“That’s the brand of baseball we’d like to play,” Banister said. “They chip away, move the line, and put together good at-bats. When we do that I think we have a premier offense.”

After Carlos Beltran hit into a 4-2-3 double play, the A’s intentionally walked Adrian Beltre to load the bases for the second consecutive day to set up Lucroy’s two-run double. Lucroy has three homers in Darvish’s past two starts.

“Tonight was a good one,” said Desmond, who has six hits in his past four games. “Yu did his thing, it was a good team win.”

The Rangers are now are 39-20 at home, which matches their best 59-game start in history (2004).

“It’s good to play well at home. We’ve spent a lot of time on the road, it’s fun to play in front of the home crowd and sleep in your own bed,” Desmond said.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 11:13 PM with the headline "Darvish, Lucroy connect to cap Rangers’ sweep of Athletics."