(Sports Network) - Yu Darvish tries to correct his road woes on Saturday
afternoon when the Texas Rangers face off against AL West-rival Los Angeles
Angels in the second contest of a three-game series.
Darvish's stats are respectable on the season with a 10-6 record and a 3.96
ERA with 121 strikeouts in 109 innings. Away from The Ballpark in Arlington
however, the Japanese phenom has struggled, going 3-5 with a 4.42 ERA while
walking 37 batters in 55 innings.
The right-hander's last start was one of his worst of the season as he allowed
a career-high seven earned runs over 6 1/3 innings of work in a 7-0 loss to
the Mariners on July 14.
"You put guys on the bags, and someone will find a way to get a base hit,"
Texas manager Ron Washington said of Darvish's control issues. "The guys that
were on the bags ... were on for free. Those are the types of things Yu has to
continue to work on."
The Angles will counter with Ervin Santana, who's no stranger to struggles
himself this season, sporting a 4-9 record with a 5.60 ERA.
The veteran right-hander has allowed five earned runs or more in five of his
last eight starts dating back to May 30, though he surrendered just two earned
runs in six innings of work in his last start against Detroit on July 16.
You truly never know what you're going to get out of Santana. He is just as
likely to show signs of greatness (tossing a one-hit shutout over Arizona on
June 16) as he is to implode (gave up eight earned runs in 1 1/3 innings of
work on July 4 against Cleveland).
The Angels did their part in gaining ground on the division-leading Rangers in
the series opener on Friday, winning 6-1.
Elvis Andrus belted his second home run in the top of the first to give the
Rangers a 1-0 lead, but that would be the only run they would score on the
night.
Albert Pujols went 3-for-4 for the Halos and Mark Trumbo went 2-for-4 while
belting his 27th home run of the season, which puts him just one behind Josh
Hamilton for the major league lead.
Mike Trout's historic rookie season continued, as he went 2-for-4 with his
15th homer of the season. His .354 batting average is tops in the American
League.
"We're only five games back now, so it's a real big deal." said Trout, who
scored a run in his 12th straight game, one off the AL rookie record. "Every
game against (the Rangers) down the stretch is going to be big. We're going to
play them a lot, so we just have to keep making plays."
Jered Weaver (12-1) settled down after that first-inning run to pitch seven
strong innings. Weaver has emerged as a legitimate Cy Young contender, as he's
top two in the league in both wins and ERA (2.20).
Derek Holland pitched into the seventh innings, but was knocked around for
nine hits and six earned runs, and he failed to record a strikeout for Texas.
Texas has won 11 of the past 17 meetings between the teams, including seven of
11 encounters in Anaheim over that stretch. Since the 2009 campaign, the
Rangers lead the series by a 36-28 count.
The Sports Network