Darvish downed again as A's beat Rangers

Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish lost his fourth start in a row as Oakland's Bartolo Colon outdueled the Japanese ace in a 1-0 victory by the A's on Saturday. Oakland won its fourth Major League Baseball game in a row and seventh in eight games to stretch its margin atop the Rangers in the American League West division to 5 1/2 games. Colon scattered seven hits and struck out eight while walking only one Ranger batter while 35-year-old Australian relief ace Grant Balfour struck out pinch-hitter David Murphy for the final out to collect his 38th save of the season. Oakland's Brandon Moss hit a run-scoring double in the first inning off Darvish to produce the victory margin. Darvish, who fell to 12-9 this season, allowed only four hits and walked just one batter while striking out 10 over seven innings, boosting his major-league-best strikeout total for the season to 256. Darvish has lost in all four games he has pitched against Oakland this season. The Rangers lost for the fifth time in a row and the eighth time in nine games and saw their lead over Tampa Bay for a wild-card playoff spot trimmed to a half-game with barely two weeks remaining in the six-month season. From : AFP