Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish had little trouble shaking off the rust in his spring debut against the Royals Thursday.
Darvish pitched just two innings in his first start, but looked to be in midseason form, throwing 23 of 29 pitches for strikes. He struck out four of eight batters faced while allowing two hits in his scoreless outing, as the Rangers went on to win, 11-7.
Darvish took a big step forward in his second major-league season, and will be the team's opening day starter coming off a 2.83 ERA and second-place finish in Cy Young voting.