Stop me if you have heard this one before, Yu Darvish almost throws a no-hitter. Twice last season against the Astros Yu Darvish almost threw no-hitters. One of them came in the second game of the season when he came just one out shy of a perfect game. Tonight, once again he came within one out of a no-hitter against the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox. Prior to this start Darvish had been in a little bit of a slide, having struggled in his last two starts against the Oakland A’s, and just been alright in his start against the Angels. To back that up he had given up 10 runs in his last 3 starts. So, to say he wasn’t pitching up to his standards would be an understatement. That makes what happened tonight even more surprising.

Tonight, he had control of everything through the first six innings. From the second through the 4th he even struck out 6 straight. He was able to find a balance between his fastball and slider and he had his fastball command back. Going into the 7th it looked like he had a shot at a perfecto. He did have that until David Ortiz stepped up to the plate with two outs. Up to that point he had control of his pitch count and had two outs in the inning. He started Ortiz off 3-0 and came back with a fastball over the plate to make it 3-1. Then, Ortiz skied to right field, but Rougned Odor was playing shallow right due to the shift and he kept drifting back till he was in medium deep right field. Alex Rios was also coming in, but never called Odor off and then Odor lost and it dropped in. The question became will this be an error or the first hit allowed? It took a few minutes, but the scorekeeper ruled that it had been an error on Alex Rios for not calling off the second baseman. That meant that even though the perfect game was gone, the no hitter stayed in tact. He started to lose his control though. He walked the next hitter as the dropped fly ball obviously got to him. He did get through the 7th and then the 8th with no hits allowed. The problem was his pitch count was still climbing. In addition to ending the perfect game the dropped fly ball forced him to throw about ten more pitches in that inning. In the 9th instead of just 103 pitches, his count was 113. It was obvious he was running on fumes, but he was able to rally and get the first two outs. He got Pedroia on a sharp grounder to Adrian Beltre, and he struck out Victorino swinging. Then, it came down to David Ortiz once again. It came down to Big Papi, the guy who ended the perfect game with his misplayed fly ball. It was Darvish vs Ortiz with a no-hitter on the line and Darvish was at 121 pitches. Darvish also has never thrown a complete game shutout in the major leagues. If he could get one out, he would get his first no-hitter, complete game, and shutout. On this night though, it was not meant to be. Ortiz hit a ground ball past Odor and through the shift into right field and it was over. Washington then proceeded to make the slow walk to the mound and took him out of the game with 126 pitches. He then got the standing ovation he so earned tonight. The last time he got within an out there was some people who discounted the performance because it was just the Astros. There can be none of that tonight as the Red Sox are the defending champions and their lineup is full of good hitters. Tonight Darvish was just better than them. He was as dominant as we have ever seen him.

Even though Darvish did not get it done, the Rangers did get a much needed win. After losing 9 of 12, and getting blown out by the Rockies in 3 straight games this week, the Rangers have responded by throwing back-to-back shutouts. That is a good response. This team will only go as far as the pitching will take them. They do not have a great offense, but they potentially have a great pitching staff. They have played their best when their starters have pitched deep into games. As I mentioned earlier that will be a key for this team going forward. Tonight it was all about Darvish though. He was great and when the offense scores runs like they did the team is great.

Notes from the Game

• Elvis moved back into his number two spot tonight and responded by going 4-5. It was the most hits he has had in a game since April 5 against Tampa Bay. Washington had moved him down in the order earlier this week in order to get his head straight. He started hitting better in the Rockies series and so Wash decided it was time. In my opinion the offense has been at their best when Choo and Andrus are at the top of the order.
• Rougned Odor made his second start at second base tonight as well. He got his first MLB hit with a single to right fielder Shane Victorino. He finished the game 1-4, but was part of the misplay in right field and was not able to get to the ball Ortiz hit into right field to end the perfect game. He still has a few things to learn.
• Fielder continued his hot May with an RBI single in the 3rd. He is now hitting .321 this month.
• Tomorrow it will be a battle of lefties as Jon Lester will take on Martin Perez. Lester is coming off of a 1 hit, 15k performance against the A’s. Perez is looking to reclaim the form he had in April. He has suffered back-t0-back bad starts against the A’s and Angels. Game time will be at 8:05.