The bright lights of New York City will shine squarely on Yu Darvish Friday night in his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The highly-anticipated game is all the more intriguing as it comes against Jacob deGrom and the Mets in the opener of a three-game series at Citi Field.
The Dodgers acquired Darvish from the Texas Rangers with little time to spare before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Although the Rangers initially were insistent on receiving Walker Buehler or Alex Verdugo in a trade for their ace, they landed neither.
Darvish went 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 22 starts for the Rangers this season. He’s coming of an outing in which he allowed a career-worst 10 earned runs in just 3.2 innings pitched.
The start prior to that, Darvish set a season high with 12 strikeouts over eight innings of work against the Tampa Bay Rays. Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi dismissed the notion of having any concern over some of Darvish’s troubles.
Darvish, who will turn 31 years old on Aug. 16, has twice faced the Mets in his career, including once this season. He recorded nine strikeouts in 7.1 innings and allowed three runs on three hits, including two home runs.
In joining a National League team, Darvish will have infinitely more opportunities to hit for himself. It’s one aspect he acknowledged is the source of some concern considering a lack of experience. Darvish is a career 3-for-14 with one double, one home run and six strikeouts.
Asdrubal Cabrera is a lifetime 5-for-13 off Darvish, with two doubles, one home run and three RBI. Jay Bruce is 4-for-6 with two home runs and three RBI, and Yoenis Cespedes is 3-for-16 with one double, one home run and 11 strikeouts.
deGrom draws the Dodgers for the first time this season and sixth time in his career. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 2.94 ERA in those games.
Overall this season, deGrom is 12-4 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, including a 6-2 mark and 2.27 ERA in 10 home starts. deGrom struck out 10 his last time out, becoming the first pitcher to record eight double-digit strikeout games in a single season since David Cone in 1992.
Other than Chase Utley, who is 4-for-14 with a double, one RBI and four walks, no player in the Dodgers lineup has extensive experience or success off deGrom.
Although there was a final game played in the June series at Dodger Stadium, Friday marks the first time since that point the Mets will get another look at Yasiel Puig. He drew the ire of Miguel Conforto and Travis d’Arnaud after slugging a three-run home run.
Jose Reyes later said he believed Puig had ‘problems’ if he was unable to recognize why the Mets took issue with what they believed was an exaggerated admiration of the homer.
The Dodgers outscored the Mets, 36-11, to sweep the four-game series. Los Angeles dropped the opener then won consecutive games to take the series at Citi Field last season.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Chris Taylor
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Cody Bellinger
CF: Joc Pederson
C: Yasmani Grandal
2B: Chase Utley
RF: Yasiel Puig
P: Yu Darvish
Mets lineup:
CF: Michael Conforto CF
3B: Asdrubal Cabrera
1B: Jay Bruce
LF: Yoenis Cespedes
RF: Curtis Granderson
2B: Neil Walker
SS: Amed Rosario
C: Travis D’Arnaud
P: Jacob deGrom
