Nolan Ryan continues to see Yu Darvish develop as a big league pitcher. The latest step forward came on Tuesday night when Darvish threw 8 1/3 scoreless innings against the New York Yankees to carry Texas to a 2-0 victory.
Ryan enjoyed watching from his front-row seat, especially with how Darvish handled the third inning. The Yankees had loaded the bases with no outs with the heart of the order due up.
Darvish, though, struck out Curtis Granderson and then induced an inning-ending double play grounder by Alex Rodriguez to escape unscathed.
“That was the defining point in the game,” Ryan said. “It’s been a growing process. I think what we’ve seen is him just being comfortable being here and in his role.”
Coming out of spring training, Ryan believed Darvish’s best pitch was the slider. After four starts, Ryan doesn’t have the same feeling anymore.
“I’m impressed with the confidence he has in all of his pitches,” Ryan said.
Ryan went on to say that he was pleased to see the standing ovation Darvish received from the sold out crowd at Rangers Ballpark.
“I think the fans are really becoming Darvish fans,” Ryan said. “They’re very supportive of him and I think he appreciates it.”
-- Drew Davison
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