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Right-hander Yu Darvish has been placed on the 15-day DL with a slight strain of the right trapezius muscle, reports Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Rangers stress the injury is minor. They expect their ace to only miss Thursday's start and the All-Star Game.
Darvish, 26, has gone 8-4 with a 3.02 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 119 1/3 innings spread across 18 starts this year. He leads all of baseball with 157 strikeouts and by allowing just 6.3 hits per nine innings pitched. Darvish has allowed 13 runs on six homers and 35 total baserunners in his last 24 innings, however.
Last season, Darvish went 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA in 29 starts, his first after coming over from Japan. He placed third in the Rookie of the Year voting and ninth in the Cy Young Award voting.
Texas paid north of $50 million to negotiate with Darvish via the posting process during the 2011-12 offseason. They then signed him to a six-year, $56-million contract.
