Yu Darvish pitched eight innings in his longest outing since elbow surgery two years ago and the Texas Rangers scored the tying and go-ahead runs without a hit, completing a four-game sweep with a 5-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
The Japanese right-hander retired 15 of 16 batters after giving up three consecutive hits in the third. Two of those were back-to-back solo home runs from Mike Moustakas and Jorge Bonifacio, whose first big league homer came two innings after he singled for his first career hit.
Darvish (2-2) struck out eight with one walk as the Rangers finished their second four-game sweep of Kansas City in as many seasons. Texas has won 10 straight against the Royals, who have lost five of six since a four-game winning streak.
The 30-year-old Darvish also threw the most pitches (113) since Tommy John reconstructive surgery during spring training in 2015. He missed all of that season and part of last year.
