Well, it was inevitable. Yu Darvish was handed his first loss in the major leagues on Sunday, after allowing four runs, three earned, in six innings against the Cleveland Indians, as the Rangers dropped the game (and the series), losing 4-2. Despite the loss, Darvish didn't pitch that poorly, as reflected by his 11 strikeouts, and he wasn't helped out by his defense on Sunday, either.
↵Once again, command issues hurt Darvish, as he walked four more batters today, giving him 21 walks on the year in just 39 innings -- good for a 4.84 BB/9 rate. That number has to come down if Darvish is going to be one of the elite pitchers in baseball, which he certainly can be. We saw it in Toronto, and we saw it against the Yankees, when he walked four batters in 15.1 innings between those two starts.
↵So, it's Darvish's first loss. In typical baseball fashion, he probably deserved a better fate on Sunday, but that's just how baseball works. Hopefully, his command is there on Friday night against the Angels in what should be the start to a very, very interesting series.