HOUSTON — Yu Darvish literally came within inches of perfection.

Darvish was one out from a perfect game when Marwin Gonzalez grounded a clean single through the pitcher’s legs, and Texas beat the Houston Astros 7-0 on Tuesday night.

A screen shot of the play showed the ball sail what looked to be less than a foot below the pitcher’s glove and into the outfield.

“That was impossible to catch,” Darvish said through a translator.

The celebrated right-hander from Japan struck out a career-high 14 and was in complete control before Gonzalez smacked the first pitch he saw up the middle. Darvish was unable to get his glove down in time and the ball skittered into center field well beyond a desperate dive by shortstop Elvis Andrus.