ARLINGTON, Texas -- Justin Verlander flopped in his Texas showdown with Yu Darvish. The Japanese star was about to do the same until he settled down after the pitching duel fizzled. Geovany Soto ended Verlanders night with a three-run homer that capped a seven-run third, and Darvish needed a career-high 130 pitches to get through eight innings in the Texas Rangers 10-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday. Darvish gave up a home run to Jhonny Peralta, the first batter he faced after the Texas outburst that sent a shell-shocked Verlander to the Detroit dugout in his shortest outing in nearly three years. The drive made it three straight games with two homers allowed for Darvish, and pulled Detroit to 8-4. Then the right-hander retired 15 of the final 16 Tigers he faced, including 10 straight. "The thing about Yu Darvish, he bends but he never breaks," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Thats a tremendous lineup he went through. After that third inning, he settled in and found something that was working and he continued to pitch." Sotos drive just over the wall in left field came after Verlander walked in two runs -- he had three previous bases-loaded walks in his career. Mitch Morelands two-out double broke a 3-all tie before Sotos drive put Texas ahead 8-3. "It wasnt much of a night to begin with but Id definitely say the whole game kind of carry-over from my last start," said Verlander, who was coming off his worst outing of the year in a loss to Cleveland. "Im not somebody who is going to go home and pout about this, Im somebody who is going to figure it out and figure it out in a hurry." Darvish (7-1) won his fifth straight decision despite allowing two home runs for the third start in a row. Baseballs strikeout leader matched his season low with six strikeouts, and didnt get the last one until Washington decided to bring him back out for the eighth even though hed already thrown 115 pitches. "Wash asked me if I could go longer and he seemed like he wanted to go a little bit longer," Darvish said. "And I felt really good so I wanted to go. The bullpen guys were pretty used up in that last series so I wanted to go." Verlander (4-4) gave up six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 2 2-3 innings, his shortest outing since going two innings in a 14-6 loss to the New York Mets on June 22, 2010. The 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young winner had allowed just four earned runs in four previous starts at Rangers Ballpark. It was actually the second time in Verlanders last 16 starts dating to last season that hes allowed eight runs, his career high. He did it in a 9-8 loss to Kansas City last August. "It was one of those where I think everybody in the world was looking for the matchup and it didnt turn out too good," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "Those two guys out there and there were 12 runs scored -- I dont think anybody expected that. We probably let down the audience a little bit." Two nights after hitting two home runs in Oakland, Moreland had two doubles and three RBIs and pushed his batting average to .296 less than a month after he was hitting .157. Darvish ran into trouble first when five of the first six Detroit hitters in the third inning reached, starting with Don Kellys first home run of the season into the lower porch in right field. Torii Hunter and Victor Martinez had sacrifice flies to put the Tigers ahead 3-1. Verlander, the ALs strikeout leader the past two years, gave up consecutive singles to start the first and third innings. The Rangers scored just once in the first, but the right-hander couldnt survive the third once his control escaped him. After Verlander hit Ian Kinsler with a curveball to loaded the bases, Elvis Andrus walked to score a run before Lance Berkman struck out on check swing on a pitch so high it bounced off the bricks behind home plate and came straight back to the catcher Kelly. Adrian Beltre walked to tie the score, and the hits from Moreland and Soto came after one of three strikeouts by Nelson Cruz, who hit his 11th homer. Between them, Verlander and Darvish threw 74 pitches in the third inning and allowed 12 base runners and 10 runs. It wasnt quite the duel fans expected in Arlingtons most anticipated pitching matchup since Nolan Ryan beat Roger Clemens 2-1 in 1989. "They both had a bad third inning," Leyland said. "Justin was just quite worse than his but his wasnt too good either. We really grinded out our at-bats and they did, too. Thats one thing this club does and thats one thing we do, too." NOTES: The Rangers landed in Texas about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, following an afternoon game in Oakland after their charter flight was diverted to Albuquerque, N.M., because of severe storms in the Dallas area. At least six people died after tornadoes struck Granbury, about 50 miles southwest of Arlington. ... The Tigers sent RHP Al Alburquerque to Triple-A Toledo to work out issues with his control. He has 26 strikeouts in 14 1-3 innings, but has walked 13 and thrown six wild pitches. RHP Evan Reed was called up and made his major league debut in the sixth. ... Rangers C A.J. Pierzynski (strained oblique) took batting practice Thursday and could go on a short rehab assignment starting Sunday. Hes eligible to come off the disabled list Tuesday. ... Kinsler tied the Rangers record held by Rafael Palmeiro with his 54th hit by pitch when Verlander plunked him on the shoulder with a curveball. 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The team has four drivers and three were guaranteed a spot in the third round of the playoffs if they simply stayed out of trouble at Talladega.So they lollygagged at the back of the pack.All day.Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth raced with a purpose, but it wasnt to win the race. Their goal was to finish the race and move on to see another day in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.A vocal faction of fans seems outraged at the JGR strategy, even though it worked to perfection. Not only did Busch, Edwards and Kenseth advance in the Chase, but so did Denny Hamlin, who was forced to race as a one-man team because of the organizational plan.Hamlin just about needed a miracle to avoid elimination, and with his teammates offering no assistance in his bid to win the race, he had to find rival drivers to work with on Sunday. Hamlin wound up third, beating Kurt Busch for the position and the one point it was worth, by 0.006 seconds. That result tied him in the standings with Austin Dillon, and Hamlin got the last berth in the playoffs on a tiebreaker.There are eight cars left in the Chase field. Four of them come from JGR . For that, the team should be commended.Instead, fans are griping that they prefer to see drivers race and not ride around the back of the pack.To that, Kyle Busch had a simple answer on Monday.Dont hate the player... Hate the game, Busch posted on Twitter.Kenseth finished 28th on Sunday, Edwards 29th and Busch was 30th. All were satisfied with the result, although they didnt really love executing the plan. Busch found the strategy to be dull and not very motivating, but it accomplished what he needed.Two years ago, Busch went to Talladega in decent shape to advance in the Chase. He was involved in a wreck and eliminated from the playoffs.Theres no reward to go race and get wrecked, Busch said. Youve got to try to survive and do what you can.Kenseth seemed to acknowledge the pootential for disappointed fans, but rationalized it by pointing out what was at stake.dddddddddddd Kenseth was eliminated from the Chase at Talladega last year.It goes against everything you ever want to do as a race car driver, Kenseth said. You cant afford to go up there and get wrecked and not have a chance to race for a championship. I dont think any of us had any fun and none of us enjoyed it, but it was just what we had to do.Those upset with the way JGR raced likely fall into two camps. There are the people who just dont like the team, whether its because Gibbs uses Toyotas or because the organization has 11 wins this year. And there are the fans of the individual drivers who dawdled at the back of the pack at Talladega, and they wanted to see their favorites compete for the win.The first group is common in sports. People dont like the Yankees, or the Red Sox, or the Patriots, or the Cowboys. Theyll find fault in anything those teams do. In the case of Gibbs, the domination over the last two years has rubbed people wrong, and there are some who just dont like that they drive for a Japanese automaker.But you cant fault the team for figuring out how to work as, ahem, a team, and accomplish big-picture tasks. Remember, JGR worked flawlessly together along with Martin Truex Jr. at the Daytona 500, where Hamlin won and Toyota drivers took four of the top five spots.Some have argued that JGR at Talladega violated the NASCAR rule that all drivers give 100 percent during a race. False. JGR gave 100 percent in determination, patience and strategy in racing for the bigger picture.Thats why fans of the individual drivers should also take a step back and appreciate what the organization accomplished. Sure, they wanted to see their drivers mixing it up at the front and trying to win the race. But with that came a risk of accident, or overheated engine (see: Truex or Brad Keselowski ), and that would have ruined the rest of the season.JGR was brilliant at Talladega, where they took the system at its face, worked within the rules and claimed 50 percent of the playoff positions. Thats a good day. ' ' '