Yu Darvish Couldn’t Find His Slider

HOUSTON — Yu Darvish left the visiting clubhouse at Minute Maid Park in a white T-shirt, a black baseball cap pulled low, and flanked by an interpreter by his side late Friday night. Down one corridor inside the bowels of the stadium was an exit route packed with guests and family of the Dodgers. He glanced at the crowd briefly and then walked in the other, less obstructed, direction.

Following the Dodgers’ Game 3 loss on Friday was a time when Darvish probably did not want to be noticed or bothered. Darvish had produced the worst game score (18) in a World Series start since Josh Fogg in 2007.

Yu Darvish's game score of 18 is the worst in a #WorldSeries start since Josh Fogg in 2007 https://t.co/xscHO0VSaR pic.twitter.com/afc6cw469L

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) October 28, 2017

Darvish recorded five outs. He allowed four runs. It was the shortest start — regular season or postseason — of his career. He began the second inning by allowing the first five Astros to reach and did not complete the frame. While the Astros’ bullpen carried the prospect of keeping the Dodgers’ in the game, Darvish’s start proved to be a significant impediment to overcome.

When Kenley Jansen came on in the eighth inning Wednesday, the Dodgers appeared to be on the cusp of taking control of the series. Now, the Astros hold a 2-1 edge with games set to be played in an energized, rock-concert-like home environment Saturday and Sunday. There’s now a possibility the series doesn’t return to Los Angeles.

After the Dodgers made an already good Darvish better upon his arrival through some data-informed tweaks as Eno and the L.A. Times documented, Darvish appeared to lose his feel Friday, what the Dodgers hope is a one-outing blemish.

Part of the issue appeared to be a fattening of Darvish’s pitches, an observation backed by Statcast tracking, and a major league pitching instructor.

Yu Darvish slider location tonight vs a normal game plot. Initial release angle on all pitches much flatter cancelling out spin. pic.twitter.com/RdGE8X2lmz

— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) October 28, 2017

Darvish’s slider wasn’t right.

“The slider was backing up,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game to reporters. “He really didn’t have the feel and couldn’t get any type of rhythm going. … I think there was one swing-and-miss … So right there you find yourself after five outs down 4-0, you have to go right there …. to the pen, to give us a chance to stay in the game.”

The following are all of Darvish’s regular season slider locations against lefties after coming over from the Rangers in the deadline deal:

And versus righties:

And his sliders in Game 3 on Friday:

Here’s a miss-executed slider against Marwin Gonzalez. Darvish immediately knew he wasn’t going to like the result as he began moving to back up homeplate before seeing the outcome of the batted ball:

Darvish had been burying his breaking ball upon joining the Dodgers but the pitch — as is often the case in outings gone off the rails — was left up.

But it wasn’t just his breaking ball that failed him. Before he was chased from the game in the second inning, he had also given up extra-bases hits on his cutter, with Jose Altuve and Josh Reddick each doubling off the pitch.

Darvish also lacked fastball command.

George Springer smashed a two-seamer for a double and Yulieski Gurriel homered on the pitch.

Gurriel then directed a racist gesture toward Darvish and uttered a slur and will be meeting with the commissioner.

“The fastball command wasn’t there,” Roberts said. “They were taking good swings, obviously taking good at-bats against him. But it just goes to the fastball command and the breaking ball just wasn’t there tonight. ”

There did seem to be something off with Darvish’s release point as it appeared to be a bit lower than his release point in September.

Darvish’s release points in September:

Darvish’s release points on Friday:

Let’s give some credit to the Astros, who have reminded us in the last two games why they were the game’s best offense this season, and it wasn’t particularly close. They are perhaps the best lineup in the modern era. In the 20th century, only the 1927, 1930 and 1931 Yankees have produced more effective offensive campaigns, according to wRC+.

Darvish missed too often out and over the plate to the top zone-contact rate team in the game in the Astros (88.2%).

And he missed in locations where the Astros’ talented right-handed hitters could do maximum damage at Minute Maid Park.

The Astros ranked fourth in baseball in wRC+ (423) on line drives fly balls pulled to left by right-handed hitters this season.

While Minute Maid Park does not play as a hitter’s park to center, it’s favorable overall, particularly down the left-field line thanks in large to the Crawford Boxes. Batting practice is loud in the facility as right-handed batters pepper the signage above the boxes and left-field wall, ads that appear to be right on top of a right-handed hitter. And when the roof is closed, as it was Saturday despite good weather, the ricochets echo throughout the park.

One question raised after the game by MLB Network’s Brian Kenny was whether Roberts considered removing Darvish from the game even earlier. After all, this is the October of bullepening.

“Well, I think that you’ve got to try to look and project where you’re at and understand you have three straight games to get through, potentially,” Roberts said. “And to go to the pen right there, which I didn’t want to do, I wanted to see if he could get through Altuve and get us out of the inning and maybe reset to get himself through the third inning. But after Altuve, that ball [the doubele], fortunately it didn’t go out, stayed in the ballpark, and at that point in time I had to go to the pen to get Correa. But that was the big spot right there.

“Could I have gotten him earlier? But you have really got to be certain that you’ve got the coverage. And again, it’s the matter of looking at using your pen, exhausting your pen when you’re down 4-0, to then having guys ready for the next couple of days, as well.”

The game was probably already lost and Darvish was hardly the only guilty culprit. Cody Bellinger’s struggles continued, as he struck out in all four plate appearances, though Roberts dismissed the idea of giving him an off day Saturday. The Dodgers recorded just four hits and offered some sloppy play behind their staff. But Darvish’s start never really gave them a chance, and they can ill-afford any more such missteps.