KYODO NEWS - Sep 9, 2017 - 18:55 | Sports, All

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Yu Darvish became the fastest pitcher to record 1,000 strikeouts in the major leagues in his 128th game on Friday, a 5-4 loss against the Colorado Rockies.

Darvish (8-12), who moved stateside in 2012 to the Texas Rangers from the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan's Pacific League, reached the milestone when he whiffed Carlos Gonzalez in the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium.

Darvish surpassed former Chicago Cubs right-hander Kerry Wood, who hit the mark in his 134th game. The right-hander, however, was not exactly basking in the glory after the game.

"I want to pitch seven, eight innings -- and win," Darvish said. "I didn't care about the 1,000 strikeouts."

"I came over at 25 when I was somewhat of a ready product so I don't consider myself the same as other pitchers."

"To me, I'm proud of the fact that I've been around long enough to strike out 1,000 more than being the fastest to get to the mark."

Darvish allowed five earned runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out six in 4-1/3 innings. He is now 2-3 with the Dodgers.

With the Dodgers up 4-1 in the fifth, Darvish gave up a two-run double to Raimel Tapia. Charlie Blackmon tied the game with an RBI double and D.J. LeMahieu followed to put the visitors ahead before Darvish was replaced.

The struggling Dodgers slipped to their eighth loss in a row.

At Globe Life Park in Arlington, Masahiro Tanaka gave up seven runs in four-plus innings to suffer his 11th loss of the season as the New York Yankees were defeated 11-5 by the Texas Rangers.

Tanaka (11-11) allowed eight hits including a second-inning solo shot to Nomar Mazara, while striking out seven and walking none. He missed a chance to record his 150th win in the majors and Nippon Professional Baseball combined.

"My teammates did well by scoring a lot at the beginning of the game. But I killed off the momentum and the Rangers found their rhythm," Tanaka said. "It was mostly my fault."

At SunTrust Park, Ichiro Suzuki made his first start in a month, batting seventh and going 1-for-3 as the Miami Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves 7-1.