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Darvish stellar in return

 
Rangers ace Yu Darvish strikes out seven in five innings and touches 98 mph in his first start since August 2014.
Rangers ace Yu Darvish strikes out seven in five innings and touches 98 mph in his first start since August 2014.
Published May 29, 2016

ARLINGTON, Texas — Yu Darvish struck out seven in five strong innings in his first start in the majors in almost 22 months, and the Rangers beat the Pirates 5-2 Saturday night.

The Japanese right-hander allowed three singles with a walk in his return from last year's Tommy John surgery, ending Pittsburgh's five-game winning streak.

Adrian Beltre had a two-run homer in the first off Juan Nicasio to become the fourth third baseman with at least 1,500 RBIs, reaching 1,501.

Mitch Moreland snapped a 1-for-27 skid with a solo home run in the fourth.

The "Yuuu" calls from a sellout crowd of 46,950 started early for Darvish, who last pitched in the majors on Aug. 9, 2014. He missed the rest of that season with right elbow inflammation and ended up needing ligament reconstruction surgery after his only spring training appearance last year.

Darvish had a 0.90 ERA in five rehab starts, culminating with an 87-pitch outing. He threw 81 against the Pirates, hitting 98 mph with his fastball in the first inning and displaying his usual array of breaking pitches, some as slow as 70 mph.

Former Ray John Jaso had a leadoff single on Darvish's second pitch. The Pirates didn't get another hit until Francisco Cervelli's sinking liner in front of rightfielder Nomar Mazara in the fifth inning.