Darvish puts together historic debut in pair of starts

By notching his 10th strikeout of the game Thursday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Yu Darvish put himself into elite company in Los Angeles Dodgers franchise history.

Darvish became just the second Dodgers pitcher since 1900 to notch double-digit strikeouts in both of his first two games with the franchise, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

The record was previously held exclusively by Karl Spooner - a left-handed pitcher that managed just 116 2/3 innings - all with the Dodgers - over his two-season career.

Spooner managed to throw a pair of complete game shutouts to begin his career in 1954 in Brooklyn, his only two games that year. Of the 68 batters Spooner faced in the two games, he struck out 27 of them. The following season, Spooner's streak ended, striking out just one batter over 2 1/3 innings. He never struck out more than nine batters again in his career.

In Darvish's short career with the Dodgers so far, the 30-year-old right-hander has thrown 12 innings and struck out an even 20 batters.

Darvish's next start is likely to come against the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox offense ranks among the American League's worst by wRC+. Cumulatively, the team strikes out in 22.6 percent of their plate appearances - fifth worst in the AL.