ESPN

It was a 3-3 road trip over the past week prior to the Texas Rangers' off day on Thursday. So let's take stock of this team the past week:

STOCK UP

Adrian Beltre: He had three multi-hit games and hit .333 on the six-game road trip with a couple of homers. Beltre also started to run a little faster on the bases, perhaps indicating that his hamstring is feeling better.

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Rangers GM Jon Daniels discusses the team's recent struggles, the interest level in Roy Oswalt and more. Listen

Robbie Ross: He pitched 5 2/3 innings over the past eight days and didn't allow a run with two strikeouts and no walks. Opponents hit just .167 off him.

STOCK DOWN

Offense: What happened to the monster bats this past week? The Rangers, usually pushing the .290 mark in team average, hit just .244 over the six games on the road, scoring an average of 3.7 runs per game (nearly two runs fewer than normal) with just five homers. The clutch hits that helped this team to a fast start didn't come often the past six games. Will a return to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington help?

Walks: Base on balls have really hurt his pitching staff recently. Yu Darvish gave up six walks Monday and three of those runners came around to score. Matt Harrison was hurt by two walks in the first inning of his start in Seattle but recovered. Scott Feldman walked five and gave up a grand slam Wednesday. For the trip, Texas walked 25 batters. That accounts for nearly 20 percent of the club's total all season.

The glaring statistic from Yu Darvish's struggling start Monday in Seattle was his command problems, leading to a season-high six walks.

Darvish now has 32 walks on the season -- that's fourth-most in the majors. But what surprised me is the fact that Darvish hasn't allowed as many of those walks to score as you might think.

Keith Hawkins at ESPN Stats & Information went through each of Darvish's starts and found that seven of the 32 batters (22 percent) whom Darvish walked came around to score. In four of his starts, none of the batters he walked ended up scoring.

Still, it's clearly an issue for Darvish as it eats into his pitch count. He has thrown an average of 17.3 pitches per inning, tied for 10th most in the AL. He's fifth in the AL in pitches per game at 107.6, by the way.

Darvish, of course, is also missing plenty of bats. It's tough to talk about walks without mentioning strikeouts. And he's tied for fifth among starters at 63 in nine starts.

Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki fashions himself as something of an increasingly knowledgeable baseball fan. After all, the 7-foot German tossed out the first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series, and he's taken over the reins from ex-Stars star Mike Modano as point man for the Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game in Frisco coming up on June 30.

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So surely Nowitzki, who dons a blue Rangers cap and blue jersey with the No. 41 and "Nowitzki" stitched on the back when he takes in games at the Rangers Ballpark, has every right to express an opinion -- just as every other Texas Rangers fan has -- regarding manager Ron Washington's strategy to rest key starters during last week's home stand. It didn't work out so well for the skipper as his team dropped three of four to the Royals and A's.

"We'll be OK, you know we already started resting people left and right. It's a little early in the season for that," Nowitzki told ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's "Galloway & Co.," on Tuesday, sounding off presumably with tongue planted firmly in cheek. "We'll be OK. It's early."

Look, Nowitzki is a guy that hates to take any time off during the grind of an 82-game NBA season. It killed him to miss four games early this season to get his troublesome right knee into game shape and he even scoffs at taking time off during meaningless games at the end of the season. So, yeah, sure, maybe Dirk would have thought twice about giving big-league ball players a day off in mid-May.

"Yeah, I thought it was a little bit aggressive," Nowitzki said of Wash's rest strategy as uproarious laughter erupted in the studio. "I think Ron knows what he's doing. Obviously he led this team to the World Series back-to-back, so you know he's got experience and he knows his players best. Like I said, they've got so many games, then it gets rained out, then you got doubleheaders, so I mean it's a crazy sport and a crazy schedule, so I guess he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for Yu Darvish's shortest outing of the season Monday against those pesky Seattle Mariners, Dirk had thoughts on that, too. He says, fuggedaboutit.

"Hey, it's so many games in baseball, it's tough to bring it every night," Nowitzki said. "It's the same in really every sport. I mean, some nights, I mean, I can't even make a damn layup one foot away. It happens and you know you come back and work hard that week. I don't know what they're training involves, but he'll be back."

Overall, Dirk is liking what he's seeing from the ball club in Arlington.

"We've got a great pitching rotation, I think we're deep at the hitters," Nowitzki said. "So I think when it's all said and done at the end of the year, I think we're going to be there again if we stay injury-free."

Matt Harrison pitched seven strong innings and Joe Nathan collected his 10th save as the Rangers evened the series with the Seattle Mariners at a game apiece with a 3-1 win Tuesday.

How it happened: Pitching was the key. Rangers starter Matt Harrison needed 35 pitches to get through a seven-batter first inning in which he gave up one run. Harrison needed just 26 pitches in the next three innings combined. He also had a stretch of nine straight batters retired end with a one-out double in the fifth inning. Harrison pitched into the eighth inning, and he left the game after giving up singles to the first two batters. Mike Adams inherited those two runners and retired the next three to hold the lead at 3-1. Joe Nathan closed the game for his 10th save.

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Rangers manager Ron Washington talks with Bryan Dolgin immediately following the Rangers 3-1 win in Seattle. Listen

Seattle's finest: Harrison is now 7-1 in his career against the Mariners. His line Tuesday: 7-plus innings, seven hits, one run, two walks and six strikeouts on 114 pitches (75 for strikes). He is the Rangers' third five-game winner, joining Yu Darvish (6) and Robbie Ross (5).

Messing with Texas: Ichiro Suzuki’s first-inning single gave him 291 career hits against Texas, and his single in the eighth inning moved him past George Brett for the most hits against the Rangers.

Smoak signals: Former Ranger and current Mariner first baseman Justin Smoak drove in the Mariners' first-inning run with a single.

Not in the box score: Josh Hamilton made a great catch with his back to home plate while running down Casper Wells' drive on the warning track in center field to close out the bottom of the first inning and leave the bases filled with Mariners. Hamilton made another catch up against the center-field wall when Alex Liddi led off the third inning.

Walk through: Mariners starting pitcher Hector Noesi was perfect through two, but then he walked the leadoff man in the third and another Ranger with one out. Later that inning with two outs, Elvis Andrus drove in both of those walked batters with his third triple of the season.

In the box score: Hamilton swung on the first pitch following the Andrus two-RBI triple, and he delivered an RBI double for a 3-1 Rangers lead. Prior to that hit, Hamilton was 3-for-18 since his 16-game hitting streak.

Gold glove & off glove: Adrian Beltre made a sweet diving stop of Dustin Ackley’s grounder in the fifth for the second out, but Liddi followed with a grounder off Beltre’s glove for an error. Shockingly, Brendan Ryan, who moved up from second base to third base on that play, did not try to score as the ball rolled toward shallow left-center field. The score stayed at 3-1 with the Rangers leading.

HR drought: Ian Kinsler has not hit a home run in the last 24 games. He has just one RBI in his last 15 games.

Bullpen: Adams has appeared in five of the six games the Rangers played against the Mariners this season.

Rotation: The Rangers starting rotation stays in the same order, which means everyone gets an extra day of rest in between starts thanks to Thursday’s scheduled off day.

SEATTLE -- Maybe it's the Northwest green uniforms. Or the fact that Japanese icon Ichiro Suzuki is on the team. Whatever the case, Yu Darvish had another short outing on the mound against the Seattle Mariners.

Darvish lasted just four innings -- his shortest start in nine trips to the mound -- and allowed four earned runs on four hits and six walks in a 6-1 loss Monday night.

It appeared to be the pitchers duel everyone anticipated between Darvish and Felix Hernandez after two innings, but Darvish couldn't find the strike zone as his outing progressed.

Suzuki had an RBI triple in the first inning, but Darvish ended up striking out the side with his slider. Darvish faced the minimum in the second inning, but the wheels came off in the third.

Five of Darvish's six walks came in the third and fourth innings. Suzuki drove in his second run in the third on a ball Darvish left over the middle of the plate.

"Early part of the game, I was ok with my command," Darvish said through an interpretor. "But somewhere in the middle when I needed to throw strikes, I struggled to get strikes in those situations."

He didn't get off to a great start in the fourth. Darvish walked the bases loaded, yet managed to give up just one run thanks to some key force-outs at the plate on plays by third baseman Adrian Beltre and shortstop Elvis Andrus. He struck out Kyle Seager in what would be the last batter he faced.

"It's kind of tough giving up four hits and five runs," Mike Napoli said. "When you walk people, it's pretty tough to minimize damage."

Washington had a lengthy talk with Darvish in the dugout after his outing. He told Darvish he was pulled mainly due to his high pitch count, despite how he finished the fourth. Darvish threw 96 pitches.

"He actually didn't know how many pitches he had, and I was trying to explain to him we're not out to hurt you," Washington said. "That's a lot of pitches in a short period of time, and we need him for the rest of the season."

The Mariners are the only team to rack up more than three earned runs on Darvish, and they've now done it twice. It's the only team Darvish has faced more than once. The Mariners collected five earned runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings against Darvish in his first career start. The Mariners have accounted for nine of Darvish's 19 earned runs this season.

Darvish even apologized to Washington for his outing.

"He expected more, but I told him he didn't have to apologize to me," Washington said. "It's a part of baseball. It happens. But I'm more than certain when he sees Seattle again, he'll have something for them."

Darvish said Washington's comments were reassuring. He was disappointed he couldn't go deeper into the game and felt his overall approach Monday wasn't good.

"Next time I want to make sure that I don't go through that and improve on it," Darvish said.

Yu Darvish struggled with his control and had his shortest outing of the season as the Rangers fell to the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Monday night.

How it happened: Walks have been an issue for Darvish in his rookie campaign. He had 26 coming into his ninth start -- his second against the Mariners. He issued a career-high six free passes in his four innings of work Monday, and three of those walked batters scored. Darvish left with a 5-0 deficit and took his second loss of the season. ... Felix Hernandez had the Rangers headed toward their first shutout until Mitch Moreland led off the eighth inning with his seventh home run, only the fourth allowed by Hernandez this season. Hernandez lasted eight innings for his fourth win.

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Rangers manager Ron Washington visits with Bryan Dolgin to talk about Yu Darvish and the Rangers' 6-1 loss to the Mariners. Listen

Ichiro owns Yu: Ichiro Suzuki was 3-for-4 when he faced Darvish in Arlington. On Monday night, Ichiro went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple in the first inning and an RBI single in the third. It all adds up to a 5-for-8 line against Darvish, with a double, triple, two RBIs and three runs scored.

Neftali Feliz shelved: Rangers general manager Jon Daniels joined the radio broadcast in the third inning on the Texas Rangers ESPN Radio Network and talked about Feliz being placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained UCL (ulner collateral ligament) in his right elbow.

“The prognosis is actually pretty good given it’s the type of sprain [the medical staff] think can heal with time and medicine,” Daniels told Eric Nadel during the radio broadcast. “There’s a chance he could start throwing after four weeks, but more likely it will be another two. Potentially six weeks down and then start a throwing program.”

Tateyama recalled: RHP Yoshinori Tateyama took the Feliz's spot on the 25-man roster. He was 1-0 with a 0.54 ERA in 12 relief appearances at Triple-A Round Rock. Tateyama went two innings against the Mariners on Monday and gave up one run and struck out two.

Feldman filling in: RHP Scott Feldman takes Feliz’s spot in the starting rotation for now. He will start Wednesday afternoon's tilt.

First move: The Feliz roster move is the first on the 25-man roster for the Rangers this season. May 21 is now the latest date the Rangers have ever gone in a season before making their first roster move. The previous latest move was May 9, 1976, when John Ellis was placed on the DL with a fractured ankle and Ken Pape was recalled from the minors.

Sick talk: Dave Barnett was ill and unable to join Tom Grieve for the television broadcast. Steve Busby moved to the TV booth. Eric Nadel handled the radio broadcast solo until Jon Daniels joined him during the third, fourth and fifth innings. Former MLB pitcher Bill Krueger joined Nadel for the sixth and seventh innings.

The Rangers and Mariners play the first of a three-game series at Safeco Field on Monday night with Yu Darvish facing Felix Hernandez.

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Darvish (6-1, 2.60): This is the first time Darvish will meet an opponent for the second time. In the first meeting, Darvish's major league debut April 9, he allowed five earned runs over 5 2/3 innings in getting a victory. Darvish has 58 strikeouts in his first eight starts of the 2012 season, making him one of just six AL pitchers since 1984 to start a career with that many strikeouts. Darvish went 7 2/3 innings in his last start, Wednesday versus Oakland. Darvish struck out seven and allowed just one run on four hits.

Hernandez (3-3, 3.02): Hernandez is 1-1, with a 0.78 ERA this season at Safeco Field, where he's compiled 27 strikeouts over 23 innings. In his last start, Hernandez took a 9-3 loss at Cleveland, giving up eight runs, six earned, in 3 2/3 innings. He walked three and gave up 10 hits while throwing 103 pitches. He hasn't won a game since May 5 against Minnesota.

Texas hitters: Against Hernandez, Elvis Andrus is hitting .349, Michael Young .288 and Josh Hamilton .195.

Seattle hitters: Ichiro Suzuki is hitting .750 against Darvish, while Dustin Ackley and Chone Figgins are a combined 0-for-6.

When Yu Darvish made his major league debut against the Seattle Mariners, he walked four over 5 2/3 innings on April 9 in Arlington. Darvish gave up four runs on four hits and two walks in the first inning.

It was a rough start for the 25-year old right-hander from Japan. He wound up striking out five and allowing eight hits while getting his first major league victory.

Darvish takes on Seattle again tonight, the first time he will face an opponent for the second time this year.

"My first time I wasn't able to display the pitches I wanted too," Darvish said through an interpreter. "But this time I will have a different approach."

Darvish's debut against Seattle was a learning experience and since then he's been a dominant force in the Rangers' rotation. He's 6-1 with 2.60 ERA overall, and since that game he hasn't allowed more than three runs in any start and posted double-digits in strikeouts twice.

Darvish said he's not making many changes, yet it's interesting to note in his first few starts he threw off-speed pitches early in the count and now he's throwing fastballs.

"It's not so much the effort level; velocity of the ball hasn't changed much," he said. "Not much difference. We'll have to see how it plays out."

The Rangers begin a three-game series at Seattle, the first opponent they'll see a second time in 2012. The Rangers visit the Mariners after taking two of three games from the Houston Astros.

Darvish gets another shot: Yu Darvish meets the Mariners for the second time this season Monday night. Like the team in general, it's Darvish's first chance to see an opponent a second time. In the first meeting, Texas won 11-5 but Darvish walked four and gave up five earned runs on eight hits. He lasted 5 2/3 innings. He hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in a game since and is 6-1 with a 2.60 ERA this year.

Young's hot streak: Michael Young hit in all three games against the Astros, going 5-for-12 with two doubles and improving his season average from .269 to .280. In the previous seven-game stretch, Young had gone just 4-for-32 with one extra-base hit.

How will Feliz do? Neftali Feliz (3-1, 3.16) will take on Kevin Millwood (2-4, 4.17) in the finale of series Wednesday afternoon, and it will be interesting to see how he responds. Feliz lost a four-run lead Saturday at Houston and was chewed out by manager Ron Washington on the mound and in the dugout. Washington's message to Feliz was simple: The team depends on him to win games and to command the strike zone. Washington said his talk with Feliz should resonate the rest of the season. Here's Feliz's chance to make that happen.

Cruz's bat: Nelson Cruz has taken off the batting gloves and his quad feels much better. This means is hitting the ball better. He had three hits Sunday and said his approach is the same, to drive it and swing at good pitches. But Cruz struggled for a bit and took off his batting gloves Saturday night so he could get a better feel for the bat when he swings. Sunday he swung the bat and ran the bases well. Cruz went through a 2-for-13 spell before getting his three hits Sunday.

Base hits: Mike Napoli should catch Darvish on Monday, and at some point during the Seattle series third baseman Adrian Beltre will get moved to DH. ... The Rangers are tied with Baltimore with the most road wins in the AL (15). Atlanta leads the majors with 16. ... Relief pitcher Mike Adams should be available for this series after missing the entire three-game set with Houston due to a respiratory infection. Adams said it zapped his energy but he's feeling good now. ... The Rangers won three out of four games between the teams earlier this season.

HOUSTON -- The first leg of the Silver Boot series concludes Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park and the Texas Rangers will have righty Colby Lewis, their opening day starter, facing Jordan Lyles.

Here's a preview:

Lewis (3-3, 3.63): The right-hander has lost his last three starts and hasn't earned a victory since April 28. He's given up 14 earned runs in the last three starts after just giving up a total of seven earned runs in five April starts. During this tough stretch, Lewis' ERA has risen from 1.93 to 3.63. Lewis' last start resulted in him committing two throwing errors, leading to five unearned runs. Lewis said he didn't do anything differently between starts, just two bullpen sessions and feels he will get out of this funk.

Lyles (0-0, 3.00 ERA): In his last start, May 15, he drew a no-decision against Philadelphia, a 4-3 loss. Lyles gave up one run on six hits in six innings of work. He was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to make that start. Last year he pitched in two games against the Rangers, going 0-1 with a 5.54 ERA. The last time he faced them was June 28, 2011, when he was credited with the loss after allowing five runs on 10 hits in six innings.

Hitters vs. Lewis: Carlos Lee 5-for-19, Jed Lowrie 3-for-5 and Matt Downs 1-for-3.

Hitters vs. Lyles: Josh Hamilton 3-for-6, Nelson Cruz 2-for-6 and Ian Kinsler 2-for-4.

Up next:
Mon at Seattle: RHP Yu Darvish (6-1, 2.60) vs. RHP Feliz Hernandez (3-3, 3:02), 9:10 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1540/FSSW
Tue at Seattle: LHP Matt Harrison (4-3, 5.21) vs. RHP Hector Noesi (2-4, 5.61), 9:10 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3/1540/FSSW
Wed at Seattle: RHP Neftali Feliz (3-1, 3.16): vs. RHP Kevin Millwood (2-4, 4.17), 2:40 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3/1540/FSSW

HOUSTON --The Texas Rangers got a gutty and sloppy pitching effort from Neftali Feliz and some timely hitting to beat the Houston Astros, 4-1, in Game 1 of the Silver Boot series at Minute Maid Park on Friday night.

How it happened: It wasn't the best night for Feliz, but the Rangers bats helped him out early. Adrian Beltre drove in the first of his two runs with a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Ian Kinsler for the first run of the game in the third inning. Nelson Cruz added to the lead with an RBI single to center. In the fifth, the Rangers added one more run on an RBI double by Michael Young, who seems to have broken out of his slump with two hits and a walk. Beltre closed the deal with a solo shot to left field, that if not for that wall in left center, might have landed in Huntsville.

Long night for Feliz: Feliz was chastized by the manager, walked the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters and threw 84 pitches through four innings. When the Rangers starter's night was done, he had thrown 101 pitches in 4 2/3 innings and for a no-decision. Feliz battled trouble all night and couldn't control his fastball. he walked five, hit one batter and allowed just one run on three hits. He also struck out six. Feliz drew the ire of manager Ron Washington in the fourth inning when he walked pitcher Wandy Rodriguez with two outs. Washington jogged to the mound and after a one-sided conversation, headed back to the dugout. Feliz then struck out Jordan Schafer on three pitches. But Washington had seen enough to pull Feliz in the fifth after two more walks sandwiched around two outs. Rookie Robbie Ross retired Brian Bogusevic on a fielder's choice to end the inning. With Feliz out, Ross became the pitcher of record.

Young gets a hit: It's been a tough stretch for Young. He finished the Rangers' seven-game homestand with just four hits in 27 at-bats. He was hitless in his last 11 at-bats until a second-inning single to center ended the string. For the night, Young went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and an RBI. Before the game, Washington said Young will stay in the lineup and he felt his veteran utility man would break out of his slump. He was right and don't expect Young to sit tomorrow against a right-hander, Lucas Harrell, for Mitch Moreland.

Beltre on a tear: Third baseman Beltre has reached base in his last nine games. Friday night he went 2-for-3 with his eighth home run of the season, a blast to left center. Beltre is 12-for-46 during the last nine games with two doubles and two home runs. In the last 21 games, Beltre has six home runs, five doubles and 18 RBIs.

Joe Nathan gets the save: For the first time since 2009, closer Nathan pitched for a fourth consecutive game. Nathan, who picked up his ninth save, had uneventful ninth inning, including a strikeout to end the game. He has two saves in his last four outings and hasn't allowed a run since May 13. Sept. 13-16, Nathan went four consecutive games for the Minnesota Twins, registering three saves during that time.

Notes: Rangers fans were in full force at Minute Maid Park on Friday night. There was a "Let's Go Rangers" chant in the eighth inning. ... Rangers are now 136-131 all-time in interleague play. ... Rangers are 62-72 in NL parks. ... When Feliz pitches, the Rangers normally do well, they're 5-2 in his starts in 2012. ... Friday night was the Rangers' 14th series of the 2012 season which marked the 14th different opponent. When the Rangers begin a three-game set at Seattle on Monday, it will be the first time they've seen an opponent a second time. ... Yu Darvish will speak with reporters Saturday afternoon. ... With Mike Adams unavailable, Koji Uehara took his spot as the setup man in the eighth. He struck out one in a scoreless inning. ... Kinsler was knocked down by a pitch that sailed over his head in the ninth inning by reliever Rhiner Cruz. Kinsler flew out to deep left field and when he got back to the dugout, slammed his helmet into a cubbie hole. Cruz then hit the next batter, Elvis Andrus, who promptly stole second. ... Josh Hamilton, who had a 16-game hitting streak snapped Thursday afternoon, began a new one with a single in the third.

Next: Rangers-Astros play Game 2 of the Silver Boot series at Minute Maid Park. Derek Holland takes on Lucas Harrell at 6:15 p.m.

The Rangers went 3-4 on their recent seven-game homestand, but are still four games up in the AL West over Oakland and seven up on the Angels. But they aren't clicking, meaning the overall stock is down this week for a team that hopes a trip to Houston can get them going again. Here's the weekly stock report:

STOCK UP

Joe Nathan: The closer has pitched two perfect innings the past two games with his velocity in the mid-90s. Nathan has settled in to his role after a rocky first week and said he hasn't thrown that hard since 2007.

Yu Darvish: The 25-year-old Japanese pitcher continues to impress. He gave up a first-inning run against Oakland on Wednesday and then didn't allow another one in the next 6 2/3 innings. He ended up with that one run allowed on four hits in 7 2/3 innings for his fifth quality start of the season. Bottom line: Darvish is pitching like an ace.

STOCK DOWN

Michael Young: One of the top hitters in the league has struggled for a few weeks now. Young is 18-for-98 (.184) in his last 23 games, including an 0-for-6 outing against the A's on Thursday. Young's career numbers tell us that he'll snap out of this soon. But it's rare to see Young struggle like this for this long.

Mike Napoli: The Rangers' catcher still isn't comfortable at the plate. He has a strikeout in 28 of 35 games and 42 on the season, which is fifth in the AL. He is 12-for-54 with no homers and four RBIs in his last 16 games. He has just one homer in his last 23 games.

IRVING, Texas -- Shortly after completing his first round at even par, four-time major winner Phil Mickelson said he was trying to get to Arlington to see his second Texas Rangers game in less than 24 hours.

Mickelson, a big sports fan, attended Wednesday's Rangers game with Japanese star Yu Darvish on the mound. And the golfer enjoyed watching Darvish pitch well, allowing one run on four hits in 7 2/3 innings in a 4-1 Rangers' win over the A's.

"I had a really good view of it and it was pretty impressive," Mickelson said. "The differences in speeds from 95 to 68 to 75 to 88. It was all over the map. He had such great control. You could tell he's a special talent."

Mickelson interacted with fans before he left the ninth-hole scoring area and told some of them that he was pulling for the Dallas Mavericks and was disappointed they had an early exit in the playoffs.

Rick George, who used to work for the PGA Tour and is now the COO of the Rangers, organized Mickelson's Rangers visit. The golfer and his caddie, Jim "Bones" Mackay, sat with Rangers co-chairman of the board Ray Davis and talked sports for nearly eight innings Wednesday.

"Darvish was awesome," Mackay said. "When Mr. Davis told us how fast Darvish can throw it left-handed (in the mid 80s), we were like, 'Wow, that is obviously some kind of athlete.' The crowd for a Wednesday night game against the A's. No disrepect to anybody, but it was 40,000-plus.

"I didn't realize how young Darvish was. We all read about him in the offseason, but at age 25 he'd already proved himself enough that they'd want to throw those kinds of dollars around. There was a lot of scouting around and the guy is the real deal. The other thing that impressed me about the Rangers is that these guys really, genuinely like each other. I bet it's a great clubhouse."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Yu Darvish is always looking for an edge. And going into Wednesday's game against the Oakland A's, Darvish and catcher Yorvit Torrealba talked about using his fastball as an out pitch.

"These teams study me just like I study them," Darvish said through interpreter Joe Furukawa. "In previous starts I was going to my breaking ball as out pitch. Knowing that, I was able to use my fastball hard in and up in the zone to get some outs."

Quality starts are becoming the norm for Darvish. He earned his fifth quality start in his last six outings -- the only start that wasn't a quality one was the game in which he returned after a nearly two-hour rain delay to still pitch 5 1/3 innings. Against the A's, Darvish gave up just one run (in the first inning) on four hits in 7 2/3 innings. He had two walks and seven strikeouts in the 4-1 win. It was Darvish's sixth win of the season, the most by any rookie in the majors this season. He's now 5-1 with a 1.94 ERA and 53 strikeouts with 22 walks in his last seven starts.

And he did it by getting ahead in the count and then adding more changeups than he's thrown all season and mixing his pitches in a variety of counts, keeping hitters off-balance. In the process, he gave the Rangers bullpen a much-needed break after they were needed the past two nights.

"He needed to save the bullpen," manager Ron Washington said. "Tonight he helped us catch up."

Darvish was also more efficient than he has been in a while. He needed 118 pitches to get through 7 2/3 innings. It took him 112 to throw six innings in Cleveland earlier this month. He said he felt like he had an easy motion Wednesday and felt fine physically, even after he had to stay loose during a one-hour, 56-minute rain delay against the Angels on Friday night.

"It was nothing different from my previous outing," Darvish said. "I was able to rest my body and get my work in."

Darvish also decided to change up his uniform choice. The starting pitcher chooses the uniform and Darvish decided on red.

"The last two nights we wore blue and didn't play our game," Darvish said. "I wanted to change it up. I heard some of the position players like playing in red."

They played well behind him, too. The Rangers, who had some defensive breakdowns in the Royals series, made all the plays on Wednesday. Adrian Beltre ranged to his right to take away a double and get an out. Craig Gentry scampered to one of the deeper parts of the park to catch a hard-hit fly ball, and Darvish stabbed a chopper headed his way.

Mike Adams came in with two on and two outs in the eighth to relieve Darvish and got a strikeout. Joe Nathan closed the game out with three straight strikeouts. So Darvish's good night was completed with a perfect one from the bullpen.

"He's doing exactly as advertised," Washington said about Darvish. "He's keeping the team in the ballgame. He's got strikeout stuff. Every time he takes the ball, you might see something new from him."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Yu Darvish and a four-run fourth inning helped the Texas Rangers end a two-game slide and beat the Oakland A's, 4-1. Some quick thoughts on Wednesday night's game:

What it means: Texas is now five games in front of the A's, who are second in the AL West. It's the largest division lead in the AL.

Darvish consistent: Darvish is making quality starts a habit. He went 7 2/3 innings and gave up one run on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. He's now got six wins, the most by a rookie in the AL this season. ... The single by Jemile Weeks in the eighth was Darvish's first hit allowed since a two-out single by Collin Cowgill in the third. Darvish added seven strikeouts, pushing his total to 58 on the season through eight starts. He now has five straight games of seven or more strikeouts, tying him with CC Sabathia for the big league lead. ... Darvish's 51 strikeouts through his seven career starts are the most in Rangers history and seventh all-time, according to baseball-reference.com (Nolan Ryan was eighth at 50 strikeouts through his first seven career starts in 1968).

Four is key number: Darvish was 49-0 in Japan when he got at least four runs of support and is now 5-0 in the big leagues when he gets that much support.

Darvish's glove solid: It's easy to overlook Darvish's defense since he's got such great movement on his pitches, but he knows what he's doing with his glove and feet. He made a nice stab at a chopper in the fourth (to retire Kila Ka'aihue) and always does a nice job of getting to first base quickly on a ground ball to first.

Speedy Gentry: Craig Gentry's speed was on display on Wednesday. He had a bunt single in the third, beat out an infield hit in the fourth (ground ball to third) and he sprinted to reach a ball deep in the left-center gap on a fly ball from Seth Smith.

Hamilton hit streak at 16: Josh Hamilton extended his hit streak to 16 games, the longest streak in the American League this season. Hamilton did it with an infield single in the fourth inning that hopped just past the mound toward second. Weeks had no chance to get Hamilton.

Beltre belts one: With Hamilton on in the fourth, Beltre hit a first-pitch changeup 371 feet to right field to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.

Four in the fourth: The clutch hits that had escaped the Rangers the past two games returned in the fourth inning. What makes this lineup -- even when two starters are out (Michael Young got a rest and Ian Kinsler had a stomach illness) -- dangerous is that they can keep getting runners on base and put pressure on opponents. Even after Beltre's homer, Nelson Cruz had an infield single. Yorvit Torrealba walked. Then, with two outs and a runner in scoring position, Gentry beat out an infield single (it seemed like third baseman Josh Donaldson thought he had more time than he did) to score a run. And Elvis Andrus got his 18th RBI of the season on a single to score Torrealba.

New streak: One night after Andrus' 32-game on-base streak ended when he was unable to get on as a pinch hitter in the ninth, he got on base twice Wednesday, starting a new streak. Andrus has a hit in 17 of his last 20 games and his hitting .426 (32-for-75) over that span. He is 8-for-22 with two runs and two RBIs in this homestand.

Mickelson in front row: Four-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who is playing in this week's HP Byron Nelson Championship for the first time since 2007, was in the owner's box for most of Wednesday's game, leaving in the eighth. Mickelson has a 7:30 a.m. tee time off No. 10 at TPC Four Seasons in Las Colinas on Thursday.

Kinsler sick: Ian Kinsler was scratched from the lineup about 30 minutes prior to the game with a stomach illness. Alberto Gonzalez took his place at second base and Andrus was moved up to the leadoff spot with Gonzalez batting second.

Tidbits: The Rangers have yet another sellout Thursday with only scattered singles and a limited number of obstructed view and standing room only tickets left. All other reserved seats have been sold. ... They had 46,370 on Wednesday, the 12th sellout of the season. That's the third-most in Rangers history. The only two seasons with more than 12 sellouts: 1994 (21) and 1998 (15). ... Gary Sinise threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ... Mike Adams struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth, and Joe Nathan closed the game out in the ninth with three straight strikeouts.

Up next: Matt Harrison will start against former Ranger Brandon McCarthy at 1:05 p.m. on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM and FSSW. It's the final game of this quick two-game series.