WASHINGTON -- After getting pummeled by Washington in two straight games, the Texas Rangers were eager to stop the Nationals seemingly interminable parade around the bases. Yu Darvish gave the Rangers just what they needed to avert a humbling sweep. Darvish struck out 12 over eight innings, Leonys Martin broke open a scoreless duel with a homer in the seventh and Texas secured a 2-0 victory Sunday. The Rangers won despite losing an apparent run in a rare double challenge on the same play. Managers Ron Washington of Texas and Matt Williams lodged separate complaints after a double steal in the first inning. Pitching for the first time since May 22 after missing his last turn with a stiff neck, Darvish (5-2) gave up five hits and walked two in dropping his ERA to 2.08. The right-hander matched his season high in strikeouts and overpowered a club that won 9-2 on Friday and 10-2 Saturday. "That team for two days just swung the bats at will, threw the ball around the ballpark, out of the ballpark," Washington said. "We certainly needed to try to slow them down, and (Darvish) did that. He slowed them down. Yu was good today. He was very good. When the team needed him to be very good, he was." Joakim Soria worked a perfect ninth to earn his 11th save and seal Texas major league-leading 11th shutout. Darvish struck out the side in the second and fanned two in each of the next three innings before encountering trouble in the sixth. One-out singles by Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche put runners at first and third before Darvish struck out Wilson Ramos and retired Ian Desmond on a deep fly to right field. Darvish yielded a two-out walk in the seventh and left after a 1-2-3 eighth. "We just needed Yu to pitch well," Washington said, "and he pitched well." Darvish was worried that neck stiffness might be a problem, but it obviously didnt turn out to be an issue. "Last night before I went to bed, I was very scared to wake up with a neck injury so I probably woke up 20 times," he said through a translator. "But I didnt have any pain when I woke up this morning." Darvish got the only run he needed when Martin hit an 0-1 pitch from Tanner Roark (3-4) into the Washington bullpen beyond the right-field wall. It was his third home run in 183 at-bats this season and ended the Rangers run of homerless games at six. Roark allowed only one run and seven hits in seven innings but lost his third straight start. "He made one mistake to Martin, a changeup that was up in the strike zone," Williams said. "Other than that, he matched him perfectly." Roark has lost three straight starts but owns a 3.25 ERA and has allowed only eight earned runs over his last 32 2-3 innings. In this one, he kept the Rangers at bay until Martin connected. "It was just a bad changeup. It was up and I didnt throw it with conviction," Roark said. "Thats how its been the past couple games, just one pitch." Donnie Murphy added an RBI single off Drew Storen in the eighth. Murphy had a season-high three hits and was flawless in his first career game at first base. "Hes a pro," Washington said of Murphy. "Every time he goes out there he does something for us." In the first inning, both managers talked to the umpires. With two outs and runners on the corners, Elvis Andrus and Alex Rios executed a double steal. Rios was called out for coming off second base after the steal, but umpires ruled Andrus crossed the plate before the tag. The Texas manager challenged the call at second and Williams insisted the out occurred before Andrus crossed the plate. After replays were reviewed over a span of 2 minutes, 45 seconds, Texas lost its challenge and the Nationals assertion was confirmed. "I might have reacted too soon," Washington acknowledged. "I should have waited until the first inning was over and I would have had my challenge. I was just trying to protect myself." In the bottom half, Ramos looked at a third strike with two outs and runners at first and third. It was the first of five straight strikeouts for Darvish. NOTES: Rangers LF Michael Choice was scratched from the starting lineup with a bruised left shin. ... Both teams are off Monday. Washington hosts Philadelphia on Tuesday night and the Rangers face visiting Baltimore. ... Denard Span got his eighth steal in the third inning, Washingtons 27th this season. Only five Nats have been caught stealing. ... Texas finished its 11-game road trip with a 7-4 record and ended a four-game road losing streak against NL foes. ... Washington fell to 4-26 when scoring fewer than four runs. Fake College Jerseys . The Los Angeles Clippers showed them just how ugly that life could be. Jared Dudley scored a season-high 21 points, Chris Paul added 16 points and 17 assists, and the Clippers jumped all over the Bulls in Roses absence for a 121-82 victory Sunday. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys .Y. -- Defenceman Ryan Murphy had a goal and an assist and Drew MacIntyre made 24 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in an exhibition game Wednesday night. https://www.ncaajerseys2020.com/. So far, so good: Gonzalez has allowed one run through 12 innings this season. His second start came Tuesday night, when he gave up only three singles over six innings to lead the Nationals to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Fake NCAA Jerseys . - Justin Turner is at his best with runners in scoring position, and he delivered again in a big spot for the Los Angeles Dodgers. College Jerseys Outlet .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at LeBron James and the Miami Heat winning their second straight NBA championship. ARLINGTON, Texas -- Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura succinctly and aptly described the series finale at Texas. "Its an odd game," Ventura said after the 16-2 victory Sunday that ended Chicagos four-game losing streak. There was the bases-loaded triple by the fill-in leadoff hitter Marcus Semien after an intentional walk to the No. 9 batter, the strikeout that stood on a replay challenge after Alejandro De Aza insisted he was hit by the pitch, and White Sox starter Erik Johnson allowing two runs on only one hit over five innings. "Its always a good day if you get a win, the team gets a win," Johnson said. "If you can go out and compete without your best stuff and your team overcomes and puts up a lot of runs, its always a positive." Jose Abreu and Jordan Danks each had two-run homers while Johnson combined with three relievers on a two-hitter against the Rangers, who had won five in a row. The White Sox went ahead to stay with three unearned runs off Robbie Ross (1-1) in the fifth, including Abreus fifth homer of the season for a 5-2 lead. Johnson (1-1) allowed only a single, but the right-hander walked the leadoff batter the first four innings and threw only 44 of his 87 pitches for strikes. Texas also scored on a wild pitch, and had another runner thrown out trying to do the same. "Youre either effectively wild or effectively lucky," Ventura said. Semien had a career-high four hits, including a bases-loaded trip in a strange sixth when Ross struck out the last two batters he faced on non-routine plays. Semien was hitting leadoff with Adam Eaton getting a couple of days off to rest some nagging leg issues. Ross final batter was Alejandro De Aza, who was called out on a third-strike check swing, right after Alexei Ramirez reached because of a wild pitch on the third strike. Ventura unsuccessfully challenged, claiming the ball hit De Aza or the bat. The ruling from umpires in New York was that the call on the field stood -- that the batter was out on a checked swing. De Aza said the ball hit both his hand and the bat. The ball appeared to change direction for some reason. "Im not even going to check (replay). I know what happened," De Aza said. "Im just in shockk, thats all I can say.dddddddddddd." Ventura got no real explanation on the final decision. "Its another one of those vague it just stands," he said. "Theyre saying they dont have any evidence that it hit the bat." Reliever Shawn Tolleson got the third consecutive strikeout in the inning before the Rangers opted to intentionally walk Danks. Semien then tripled off the base of the left-centre field wall to make it 8-2. "Thats a little fire, it gives you a little fire when you see that happen right in front of you," he said. "Im glad I got the result and we as a team got the result." Tyler Flowers, who had three hits, had a leadoff single in the fifth, then went to third on Semiens one-out grounder when third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff made a throwing error while trying to start a double play. Conor Gillaspie had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly before Abreu homered. Ross, a converted reliever, had a career high eight strikeouts with no walks in his 5 1-3 innings after not allowing an earned run his previous two starts. The lefty gave up seven hits and seven runs, four of them earned. "If you hit your location, and throwing strikes is never detrimental, just missed his location on a few of them," manager Ron Washington said. "And then we didnt make a play behind him. That opened things up for them." Ronald Belisario threw two scoreless innings before Andre Rienzo and Matt Lindstrom each worked an inning for Chicago. Flowers had a leadoff single in the third before Danks first homer. Josh Wilson drew a leadoff walk and scored on a sac fly by Shin-Soo Choo in the Texas third, which ended when Leonys Martin got tagged out trying to score on pitch that ricocheted off the backstop. Elvis Andrus walked to start the fourth, then went to third on a stolen base and errant throw by catcher Flowers before scoring on a wild pitch. NOTES: Rangers INF Luis Sardinas became the youngest player to appear in the majors this season when the 20-year-old made his major league debut. He came into the game at shortstop for Andrus and then got an infield single his first at-bat. ... Kouzmanoff was 0 for 3, ending his 10-game hitting streak to start his Rangers career. ' ' '