It certainly was perplexing to see a pitcher as good as Yu Darvish struggle so badly in the World Series.
We now appear to have a reason: The right-hander was tipping his pitches, according to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated.
Darvish, now a free agent, was tagged with losses in Games 3 and 7 as the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped the Fall Classic to the Houston Astros. He allowed nine runs on nine hits in just 3.1 total innings and did not record a strikeout.
The Astros knew what Darvish was about to throw by the way he brought the ball into his glove, according to Verducci.
“We knew the first time we faced him [in Game 3],” an unnamed player told the reporter. “The next time [in Game 7] it was mostly the same, but then it was more about just having a great game plan going in. We knew he was going to try to go back to his slider to find it. We had a great approach.”
Darvish threw 48 sliders and cutters to Houston hitters in the World Series; they swung and missed only twice at them while hitting .556 against the pitch.
Tipping pitches is not a new dilemma for the 31-year-old this season — he allowed a career worst 10 runs in a July 26 start against the Miami Marlins. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported at the time the Marlins knew what pitches to expect from Darvish.
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