Yu Darvish came into the contest with one run conceded in each of his previous two postseason starts and a track record of dominance in Houston. On Friday he was, of course, awful. It’s shaping up to be that kind of World Series.
If this lacked the see-saw drama of the Houston Astros’ extra-innings, extraordinary 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, the zany tenor made the trip from California to Texas, as the visitors’ sure thing on the mound dissolved into a shambles in what was to be a decisive second inning.
Acquired in a trade from the Texas Rangers in July precisely so he could dazzle on nights such as this, Darvish entered the night with a 4-1 career record at Minute Maid Park. He struck out 14 batters and gave up only two runs in 11.1 innings against the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks this month, both wins. And he was rested, having not pitched since 17 October. Perhaps too rested.
It was, MLB.com reported, the shortest start of his Major League Baseball career and generated a solitary swing-and-miss in 49 pitches. By the time he trudged off, after one and two-thirds innings, Houston held a four-run advantage that proved enough, just about, for them to take a 2-1 series lead.
The warning signs were flashing from the bottom of the first inning, when a George Springer lead-off double was followed by a Jose Altuve fly ball caught on the warning track.
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(@Deadspin)Yuli Gurriel under fire after gesture made in dugout after homering off Yu Darvish: https://t.co/CoY4gEYRDG pic.twitter.com/TmF1HJNUTo
The Japan-born 31-year-old escaped, but Yuli Gurriel began the second inning by launching a fastball into the Crawford Boxes above left field. After the home run, television pictures caught Gurriel making what appeared to be a “slant eye” gesture in the dug-out. Astros manager AJ Hinch said he had been briefed about the incident. “I know he’s remorseful but other than that I don’t know a lot,” he said.
Darvish, whose father is Iranian and mother is Japanese, called the gesture “disrespectful”. After the game, he said: “I’m sure the Astros have Asian fans too … He made a mistake. He’ll learn from it. We’re all human beings.”
On the field, Josh Reddick scorched a daisy-cutting double in the same direction as Gurriel’s homer later in the second inning. A walk to Evan Gattis ensued on a pitch so wayward it threatened to brush the designated hitter’s lumberjack beard. “It looked like he was out of sorts,” Hinch said of Darvish. “He had a hard time landing his slider … when you essentially disregard a pitch, that will go as an advantage to the hitter.” Hinch also credited his own hitters for continuing the momentum after the Game 2 slugfest. “The quality of our at-bats tonight was incredible. That’s more of our identity, that’s more what we’re about,” he said.
With a player as accomplished as Darvish struggling so unexpectedly, a sense of misrule enveloped the inning; a mischievous mood of subversion. Every pitch was eminently hittable. Marwin Gonzalez, the home run hero who tied the previous game in the ninth inning, went to bunt after – on the previous pitch – mistiming a swing so mighty that, had he connected, only the stadium’s roof would have stopped the ball from landing somewhere near San Antonio.
Gonzalez dispatched a pitch off the centre field wall and Reddick scored; Brian McCann singled to score Gattis, then Gonzalez crossed home plate via an Alex Bregman sacrifice fly. When Altuve came close to another home run, making it six hits on the young night, Darvish was done.
In his place, Kenta Maeda muffled the Astros. But a 42-pitch appearance puts his availability in doubt for Saturday’s Game 4, adding pressure to a Los Angeles bullpen that went from automatic to haywire in Game 2. Maeda was one of six pitchers used by LA on Friday.
Starting for the Astros, Lance McCullers was solid if touchable; he was a one-man accidental Dodgers rally in the top of the third inning, walking the bases loaded but miraculously only giving up one run after Corey Seager hit into a finely-executed double play.
The Astros added another run in the fifth, but McCullers again gave the visitors immediate hope by issuing a lead-off walk to Seager, who would score on a groundout from Yasiel Puig off the relief pitching of Brad Peacock. Justin Turner scored on a wild pitch to Chase Utley, making the score 5-3.
Houston loaded the bases in the seventh inning but were unable to extend their lead. With the scores still 5-3 in the top of the night, Hinch made a big call: carry on with Peacock rather than ask Ken Giles, the closer who imploded in Game 2, to come in. It was the right decision: Peacock struck out Puig, removed Utley with ease and then Yasmani Grandal with some difficulty to confirm the victory.