Houston vs. Texas, 6:10 PM CT
TV: CSN Houston
Radio: KBME 790 AM
Rangers SBNation Blog: Lone Star Ball
Pitching Match
LHP Erik Bedard (0-2 / 7.63 ERA / 1.82 WHIP) vs. RHP Yu Darvish (5-1 / 2.56 / 0.92 WHIP)
Preview
The last Yu Darvish took the mound in Houston; it took the will and might of the "Game Breaker", Marwin Gonzalez, to prevent history from being made that night. Since that game, each teams has been set in opposite path. The Rangers lead the American League West by five games, while the Astros lead the race for the number one pick by a game over the Marlins. The stage is once again set for Darvish and the Kstros to struggle for a place in the history books.
On the mound for the Astros is Eric Bedard, after another quality outing in relief he is back in the rotation. As a starter, Bedard has an ERA of 9.98 ERA. Bedard has failed to record an out past the forth innings thus far in season, giving up 17 runs over his past four starts. The Astros' only ray of hope is the fact that Bedard was soild in relief against the Tigers - giving up only a solo homerun to Omar Infante in 3 1/3 innings of work.
The Astros have somewhere to start from against Yu Darvish, the bottom. It only can get better from here, right? Darvish pitched scoreless ball over 8 2/3 last time in Houston. Since then, Darvish has been nothing short of masterful. Of his seven starts, Darvish hasn't given up a run in four of them. In those four starts, he has pitched at least into the sixth inning. Darvish's current K/BB rate (4.80) puts him the top ten in baseball. There appears to be only one hole, the Astros need to make Yu work out of the stretch. His ERA with a running on first is 5.19 and 7.88 when runners in scoring position. The Astros must put the pressure on Darvish and get on base, the game will not be won with one might swing.
If the game were played on paper, it would already be over. This is beauty of baseball; you never know what might happen.