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Yu Darvish’s two World Series appearances probably haunt him every day. In his two starts, he never made it out of the second inning–allowing NINE runs and posting a dismal .474 batting average against.
Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci spoke with an anonymous Astros player who offered possible explanation for how a man who allowed just two runs in 11 1/3 innings in his first two starts of the postseason pooped himself so hard in the World Series.
According to a Houston player, the Astros often knew what Darvish was about to throw by the way he brought the ball into his glove in the set position. (Darvish pitches exclusively out of the stretch.) The player said it worked like this: Darvish holds the ball at his side when he gets the sign from the catcher. Whether he re-grips or not as he brings the ball into his glove was the tip-off whether he was going to throw a slider/cutter or a fastball.
…He 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.
This isn’t the first time the 31-year-old Darvish has been accused of tipping pitches–hell, back in July he actually confirmed he was tipping pitches to the Marlins.
Two scouts and an executive said Marlins knew what was coming from Darvish. A slight pause with hands when he was throwing his fastball.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 29, 2017
“It’s hard to find,” Darvish said back in July. “I don’t know why the Marlins scout said that to the media. Because I can fix it! You know?”