HOUSTON (AP) — Yu Darvish was one out from a perfect game when Marwin Gonzalez grounded a clean single by means of the pitcher's legs in the Texas Rangers' 7-0 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday.
The celebrated right-hander from Japan stricken out 14 and appeared to be in sweep through project before Gonzalez smacked the first pitch up the middle. Darvish was unable to survive his glove down in time and the ball skittered into centre field well beyond a desperate souse by shortstop Elvis Andrus.
At that moment, one thought went through Darvish's mind.
"I can now go back to the dugout," he said with a straightforward face. "Even if I got the complete game today, it's not going to translate to three or five wins. It's a win. A win's a win."
BOX SCORE: Rangers 7, Astros 0
Darvish put up his hands — almost in a shrug of fortitude — after the single. The Texas infielders immediately came to the mound, and manager Ron Washington joined them.
Washington patted Darvish on the chest and then signaled for a reliever. A crowd that include many Rangers fans cheered Darvish as he walked off.
He sat on the patio to watch the rest of the game, and took part in the congratulations line when it ended.
And if Darvish was upset about coming oh so c stomach, he didn't testify it.
"I went that far," he said. "I'm really satisfied."
Darvish became the first pitcher to lose a perfect game with two outs in the ordinal inning since Armando Galarraga on June 2, 2010. Of course, the Detroit pitcher was denied only because of an infamous baffled call at first base by judge Jim Joyce, who later admitted he was incorrect.
On the moment full day of the major(ip) unify season, Darvish nearly picked up right where baseball left off go away year, when there were a record three perfect games, thrown by Philip Humber, Matt Cain and Felix Hernandez.
Darvish arrived in the big league last year with much fanfare, having already been a five-time All-Star and cuckold MVP in Japan. The Rangers paid more than $107 million to cut him for five seasons.
The right hander quickly settled in with Texas, enough an All-Star last year on the way to going 16-9 with 221 strikeouts. He also once flirted with perfection, retiring the first 17 batters at Kansas City on Sept. 3.
"I think I got friendly today. I felt I pitched better against the Royals last year," Darvish said. "I had better command in that outing."
If Darvish had been able to remove the job Tuesday, it would have been the earliest perfecto in history.
He didn't really wish a dazzling play from his defense as he shut down the Astros and chased the 24th perfect game in big league history — including the one come in Larsen tossed in the 1956 World Series, and two in 1880.
It was almost the second time in 10 months the overmatched Astros failed to put a moon curser on base. Cain's perfect game for the World Series endorse San Francisco Giants came against Houston on June 13 last year.
Many expect the Astros to be the hit team in the majors this year, after two straight 100-loss seasons and a major league-low payroll of just under $22 million. But they cruised to an 8-2 win over Texas in the major league opener and their American League debut Sunday night.
Materials taken from USA Today
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