The shadowy conditions undoubtedly helped, but Yu Darvish also pretty clearly had much better command of his fastball working (after the first inning) in this one than his first start against the Marlins. And his slider was nasty as ever, generating six whiffs. And on his fastballs (four-seamer and sinker), Darvish netted seven whiffs. He also got a whiff on a changeup. Lots of flailing away from the Brewers.
Darvish also sat at 95.5 mph with his four-seamer, according to Brooks, and touched 97.2 That’s some serious heat for April.
Ultimately, Darvish allowed just one run on two hits and one walk, while striking out nine over six innings. He had just seven starts last year with a better game score (70).
Enjoy the highlights from his outing and dream on 30 more like this over the course of 2018 … hopefully:
.@faridyu retired 18 of 21 batters faced today. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ojPtkcXA7P
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 8, 2018