Texas Rangers turn to Yu Darvish in series finale vs. Angels
The Texas Rangers evened the series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Wendesday night with an 8-3 victory. They’ll look to take the series with Yu Darvish on the mound opposite Ricky Nolasco Thursday afternoon at 2:35 CDT.
The Texas Rangers did Wednesday night what should have done the night before to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. They took the lead early, and then although they fell behind in the middle innings, they fought back and took the win. But now instead of a 2-0 series lead with a shot at both a sweep and surpassing .500, they’re split with a shot at a 4-5 record. Nonetheless, Rangers starter Yu Darvish gets the ball for the rubber game of the series to take on Angels righty Ricky Nolasco.
Darvish at Angels Stadium
Over his previous four seasons of MLB baseball, Yu Darvish has started eight games at Angels Stadium and has fared well there. Angels hitters have batted just .200 with a .281 on base percentage and a slugging percentage of only .323. Of the 13 other American League ballparks, he has a lower opposing batting average in just four of them (Progressive Field, Comerica Park, Minute Maid Park, Tropicana Field and Rogers Centre).
Darvish has allowed just six home runs in those games and boasts a 5-2 record with a 2.70 earned run average at Angels Stadium. He has lower a lower ERA at seven other AL ballparks, but that doesn’t discount how solid of a pitcher he is there. Considering his career earned run average is 3.30, he’s still well above his own career average at Angels Stadium.
In his last start there, Darvish pitched 6 2/3 innings while surrendering a lone run on three hits with nine strikeouts. A seventh inning RBI triple by shortstop Andrelton Simmons was the lone extra base hit he allowed that evening, which ultimately chased him from the game. Reliever Matt Bush came in after him to get the out to end the inning and the victory. That 95 pitch outing was the only start by Darvish against the Angels last season.
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Darvish vs. the Angels lineup
Whether home or away, Darvish has pitched some great games against the Angels in his career. Although he has a 3.78 earned run average against them over his career, they’ve hit just .217 against him in 13 starts.
Believe it or not, his biggest nemesis in the LAA lineup is not center fielder Mike Trout. It’s actually right fielder Kole Calhoun. In 13 career plate appearances, he has four hits: two of which are home runs for a .364/.462/.909 slash line. Darvish has struck Calhoun out just once and it was before his injury. But going back to Trout, he’s hit Darvish well, too.
Trout has more plate appearances against Darvish than any current Angels player with 43. He’s gotten ten hits off Darvish, which include four home runs and a double. Against Yu, Trout has a career slash of .270/.372/.622. Needless to say, Trout and Calhoun will be in the lineup Thursday afternoon.
As for Darvish’s successes, he’s pitched really well against Angels third baseman Yunel Escobar. In his 17 career plate appearances against Darvish, he has just two singles and has struck out four times. His .235 on base percentage against Yu is actually higher than his anemic .133 slugging percentage. Therefore, don’t be surprised if Angels skipper Mike Scioscia hands Escobar the day off.
Don’t expect to see Angels middle infielder Cliff Pennington, either. His career futility against Darvish includes just one single in 11 plate appearances.
Rangers hitters vs. Nolasco
Nolasco has split two career starts against the Rangers. His last came in Arlington last season on July 9 while he was with the Minnesota Twins.
Nolasco lasted six innings, yielding four runs on nine hits with just two strikeouts. Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus took him deep in the second inning for a solo homer. Second baseman Rougned Odor drove in two runs, as did Andrus in the losing effort.
Two current Rangers hitters have hit Nolasco pretty well in his career. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy has a lifetime .417 batting average against him. What’s odd is that all five of his hits off Nolasco have been singles.
Carlos Gomez on the other hand, is one of only two current Rangers hitters to take Nolasco deep. (Refer again to Elvis for that other one mentioned above.) However, his blast dates back to 2012 when Gomez played for the Brewers and Nolasco pitched for the Marlins.
First baseman Mike Napoli, who homered Wednesday night, has just one career hit against Nolasco. It came back in 2015 while Napoli played for the Red Sox. Nap has also struck out four times in 12 plate appearances against the right-hander.
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On the season, Darvish is still looking for his first win, as is Nolasco. Both pitchers have identical records at 0-1 and similar earned run averages at 3.65 and 3.86, respectively. The game can be viewed online on MLB.TV outside the Rangers and Angels markets and locally on Fox Sports Southwest. MLB At Bat will carry audio, and locally you can hear it on 105.3 FM in English and 1270 AM KFLC in Spanish.