Sunday as his Texas Rangers came up with a lot of power hitting to slam the Toronto Blue Jays 12-6 in Texas.
Despite being the winning pitcher, Darvish had an off-day. In five innings, he struck out only three men, his lowest number of strikeouts in 10 games with the Rangers. He also gave up an equal number of walks. In fact, he walked the very first batter he faced in the game on four straight pitches—not an auspicious start.
His earned run average for the game was an unimpressive 5.4, raising his average for the season to 3.25, still a long way from his career average in Japan of 1.99.
Darvish said he wasn’t feeling well, suffering from an intestinal distress in recent days. He didn’t say how much of that Texas chili he has been taking on.
After five innings, he told coach Ron Washington he also had a stiff back. Washington said he didn’t want to take any chances at that point and brought in a new pitcher.
“Temperature-wise I didn’t feel it was extremely hot,” Darvish said. “I was able to pitch without the heat affecting me. My body physically hasn’t been feeling well since [the game five days earlier in] Seattle. That’s been nagging me.”
