The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Yu Darvish at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline to bolster the league’s best starting rotation that already consisted of Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Alex Wood.
Darvish ended his regular season campaign on a strong note and was lights-out in his first two starts of the postseason. The right-hander allowed just two earned runs and 10 baserunners in 11.1 innings pitched against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs in the National League Division Series and Championship Series, respectively — good for a 1.59 ERA and 0.79 WHIP.
Darvish, however, struggled in his most recent outing against the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park. In just 1.2 innings, he yielded six hits and four runs without recording a strikeout.
Darvish lacked command of any of his pitches and threw a slider without much bite to it, making a recipe for disaster. But with the Dodgers forcing the Astros to a Game 7, Darvish has an opportunity for redemption.
“I threw the bullpen session and my slider is getting there, and it’s better,” Darvish said through a translator. “And about the shortest outing I had, if it was the regular season, I probably would’ve kept going.
“I wouldn’t say it was the worst outing I ever had. I can’t pay that much attention to what happened, last time. Just focus on [Wednesday’s] outing and have a good game.”
Darvish previously explained he warmed up for Game 3 using baseballs from the regular season. It may have been a factor considering several pitchers have expressed a belief baseballs in the postseason and World Series differ in their feel.
Because of that, Darvish made an adjustment on his side. “I used the game ball in the last bullpen, and what I was working on was just to balance myself to have good mechanics and all,” he said.
“After the first two games I heard that [Dallas] Keuchel and [Justin] Verlander were talking about the ball was flying, and I knew that,” Darvish noted. “I knew that my slider wasn’t breaking and sharp. And after the game I came back and I realized that my slider, I couldn’t finish my pitches. I couldn’t get that final touch. And then it just didn’t make sense.
“And then I read about the ball being slick. And I really didn’t know if it was my physical thing and mechanical adjustment that I had to make or the ball. I can’t really say it. But that’s it. And I just need to learn from it.”
