Darvish Loses No-Hitter with Two Out in Ninth

Yu Darvish was so close to throwing a no-hitter on Friday night when he and his Texas Rangers teammates routed the Boston Red Sox 8-0.

The ace right-hander from Japan was one out shy of throwing a no-hitter for the second time. He gave up a single in the ninth-inning to DH David Ortiz.

Darvish said after the game through a translator that it was the second time he has had a no-hitter broken up in the ninth with a hit.

Rougned Odor the Texas Rangers second baseman was in short right field in a shift for Ortiz and dove on an attempt to stop Ortiz’s ninth inning single.

If Texas had not made such a shift on Ortiz, as is the norm since he pulls the ball so much, it would have likely been a routine out to second base.

Last season, with two outs during the ninth inning against Houston, Darvish lost a bid at a perfect game.

Darvish, who is now 3-1 on the season, had 12 strikeouts and two walks, on Friday against Boston.

Odor, the 20-year old infielder for Texas was playing in only his second game in the major leagues. He was involved with Ortiz earlier in the game on a play that was ruled an error when a popup landed between he and outfielder Alex Rios.

Darvish fanned 8 of the first 11 hitters he faced. He retired 20 straight up to the seeing eye popup by Ortiz that was dropped for an error in the seventh with two outs.

Rios was charged with an error on the play after the play was reviewed several times by Steve Weller the official scorer. Odor said he thought he was called off the ball by Rios or another outfielder and that is why he pulled off from the play.

Weller who has been an official scorer for 20 seasons told a reporter following the game that he judged either the outfielder of second baseman should have caught the ball.

In the ninth, Darvish opened the inning with Dustin Pedroia recording a ground out. He then struck out Shane Victorino before facing Ortiz.

A month ago, Darvish entered the six inning of a start perfect against Houston, before the Astros hit a leadoff single to start the sixth.

For the 21^st time in his career, Darvish recorded 10 strikeouts or more, since he debuted in 2012, which is the most in baseball. His closest competitor is Max Scherzer of the Tigers who has struck out at least 10 batters on 14 occasions over that time period.

Darvish has not won a game in his previous nine starts at home despite having an ERA of 2.83 during that span. His last win at home prior to last night was August 1 of last year versus Arizona.

The last Rangers pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Kenny Rogers, who threw a perfect game on July 28, 1994 against the California Angels.