Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish pulled off an encore performance against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday after striking out 14 batters without allowing a single walk to give the Texas Rangers a resounding 7-1 win at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.

Darvish was at it again for the second time in just over two months against the D-backs, tying his career-high of 14 Ks while giving the Rangers their fourth straight victory.

"Some of (the sliders) were dropping down, some of them were going sideways," Darvish said through an interpreter, according to ESPN. "The movement on my slider was really inconsistent and that worked in my favor."

Darvish, two-time MLB All-Star, improved his regular-season record to 10-5 with a 2.66 ERA and 186 strikeouts. He also became the first Ranger to collect four 14-strikeout games in one season, surpassing the feat accomplished by pitching great Nolan Ryan.

D-Backs hitter Adam Eaton is convinced that Darvish is a pretty special player with the ability to dominate a ballgame by unleashing a full repertoire of pitches.

"As a hitter you have a lot of different thought processes in the box," Eaton told reporters after the loss. "When you hit your spots and you have that many pitches, it's tough as a hitter to put the ball in play and get good swings on the ball."