The Colorado Rockies entered their Friday matchup against the Texas Rangers with an eye on their MLB regular season opener against the Houston Astros on Friday, April 6, so it was all about ironing out the finer points in one of their last Cactus League games this season. Japanese star pitcher Yu Darvish turned into quite an off-season story as the Rangers won the rights to negotiation a contract after a very competitive bidding process, and on Friday he looked every bit like the big-name player the Rangers felt they pursued and signed.
Darvish pitched six strong innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs while striking out 11 Rockies batters and walking just one. He tied up nearly everyone in the Colorado lineup, although Jason Giambi did touch him up for a two-run homer in the second inning to tie the game at two. From there, the Rangers chipped away at Colorado starter Jhoulys Chacin and picked up three more runs to seal the 5-3 victory. Chacin finished his Cactus League season with a 4.84 ERA and a 1-2 overall record.
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