Yu’s gritty start marred by Bush’s rare off night

ARLINGTON — Rangers starter Yu Darvish is still not getting deep into games or throwing a lot of pitches, but six innings and 93 pitches appeared to be enough on Wednesday night.

Darvish allowed two runs in the first, then put up five scoreless innings and handed off a 3-2 lead to the bullpen in the seventh. But rookie reliever Matt Bush, so good for most of the season, had his toughest night in the big leagues and the lead slipped away in a 6-4 loss to the Athletics at Globe Life Park.

Bush gave up two-run home runs to Coco Crisp and Khris Davis, after allowing just one in his first 31 1/3 innings this season. Bush was throwing his usual 96-99 mph with the fastball.

“The balls were up and center cut,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “Obviously from the swings, the pitches were elevated over the plate. It’s not typical of what Matt is used to doing. He usually elevates only when he needs to get a swing and miss. That was the issue.”

Both home runs came off 2-2 fastballs.

“Threw Coco Crisp a fastball in, but didn’t get it inside enough and left it a little up and he did a great job of putting the barrel on it,” Bush said. “I’ve had success …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com