The lone time the Pittsburgh Pirates faced Yu Darvish was Sept. 9, 2013. That date was when the Pirates clinched their first winning season since 1992.
It also was the last time Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister (then the Pirates bench coach), saw Darvish pitch until Saturday night.
Darvish was making his return from Tommy John surgery and last pitched Aug. 9, 2014.
The Rangers fed off the return with a 5-2 win.
Darvish (1-0) allowed a run on three hits in five innings and was on a pitch count.
Juan Nicasio (4-4) allowed four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings. This was his first start since May 17. He had pitched an inning against the Colorado Rockies but his last appearance ended with a postponed game after a nearly four hour rain delay.
Nicasio was able to get seven ground ball outs in his start but departed with 105 pitches thrown.
Much of the trouble came in the first inning.
Jurickson Profar led off the bottom half with a single on an 0-2 pitch and advanced to third base when Ian Desmond doubled. Prince Fielder then grounded out scoring Profar.
That was not all, as Adrian Beltre connected on his ninth home run of the season on a 3-2 Nicasio offering.
In the fourth inning, Mitch Moreland added a run to the Rangers cause hitting his fifth homer of the season.
Cole Figueroa got his first start of the season, batting ninth and playing second base. He had a rare offensive opportunity thanks to some baserunning from Francisco Cervelli.
Cervelli led off the fifth inning with a single and stole his third base of the season.
With two outs and a 3-1 count, Figueroa swung at a Darvish offering. His single played Cervelli and put the Pirates on the scoreboard down three runs.
Each team contributed a run apiece to the final score as Desmond had an RBI single in the seventh inning of Jared Hughes and Jordy Mercer recorded a ninth inning ground out which plated Matt Joyce off Sam Dyson.
This defeat snaps the Pirates five game winning streak. The Pirates have not dropped consecutive games since May 13-14 to the Chicago Cubs.
Up next
This three-game series continues when Francisco Liriano (4-3, 4.30 ERA) takes on Martin Perez (2-4, 3.13 ERA).
Liriano is 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA and a save in nine career games (seven starts) against the Rangers.
