Rangers 2, Nationals 0: Yu Darvish fanned 12 over eight dominant innings and Leonys Martin hit a solo home run in the seventh inning as Texas avoided a three-game sweep in Washington.

Darvish (5-2), who yielded only five hits and two walks on 102 pitches before Joakim Soria tossed a flawless ninth for his 11th save, struck out at least 11 for the third time in his last four starts and the 16th time in 71 career outings. Donnie Murphy tied a career high with three hits and drove in a run, while Elvis Andrus and Alex Rios each collected two hits for the Rangers.

Tanner Roark (3-4), who was traded from Texas to Washington in July 2010, suffered his third consecutive home setback after permitting a run on seven hits and two walks over seven frames. Denard Span led off the bottom of the first with a ground-rule double, but watched as the Nationals could muster only four more singles for the rest of the contest.

Roark worked in and out of trouble over the first three innings, benefiting from a failed stolen base attempt in the opening frame at second base when video replay upheld the initial ruling that Rios was called out before Andrus crossed home plate. Darvish stranded two runners in the first, but struck out at least two batters over each of the next four innings and did not allow a batter past second base until the sixth.

After Murphy opened the seventh with a single and was caught stealing one pitch later, Martin lined the next pitch he saw from Roark into the Nationals’ bullpen in right. Murphy tacked on an insurance run in the eighth off reliever Drew Storen, lifting a single just over the outstretched glove of second baseman Danny Espinosa to bring home Dan Robertson.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Darvish has allowed a total of one run over his last four interleague outings and improved to 5-1 with a 1.55 ERA in seven all-time starts against a National League opponent. … Washington, which outscored Texas 19-4 over the first two games of this series, has supplied Roark with a total of three runs over his last three starts. … Martin’s solo shot ended a six-game homerless drought for the Rangers.