The first two innings Sunday night weren’t as bad as Yu Darvish has pitched in his career, but he was far from his best at Comerica Park.
He needed 56 pitches to record six outs. He walked four batters after walking only five in his first three starts of the month. He twice surrendered one-run leads.
The right-hander had only three more innings in him before his pitch count hit 105 and Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister had no choice but to remove his staff ace.
That left the game in the hands of the bullpen, a prospect that still makes many queasy despite the relievers’ recent run of quality pitching.