Yu Darvish made a really bad pitch to Aristides Aquino last night, and that pretty much changed everything in the outcome of his game. Making bad pitches to a guy who can really only crush bad pitches right now is a mistake you can’t make. Darvish made it, and that’s that.
But to suggest that was the entirety – or even the majority! – of his start last night would be so unfair, given how dominant it was otherwise.
So, then, I just wanted to share some things to enjoy from last night, as Darvish continues his torrid second half pace. Enjoy:
Darvish K's 13.
That's now 27 Ks over his last 13 IP.
Caution: some of these strikeouts are NSFW pic.twitter.com/hj7tYDeCJc
— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) September 18, 2019
.@faridyu has set a franchise record with eight consecutive strikeouts! pic.twitter.com/JyABwMbgXK
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 18, 2019
Yu Darvish is at 217 strikeouts on the season. Since 1900, here's the list of Cubs pitchers to reach at least that many in one year:
Fergie Jenkins, 5x
Kerry Wood, 4x
Tom Hughes, 1x
Mark Prior, 1x
Jake Arrieta, 1x
Yu Darvish, 1x— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 18, 2019
Yu Darvish joins Mark Prior (Sept. 16-21, 2003) and Kerry Wood (May 6-11, 1998) as the only pitchers in Cubs history with 13+ K in consecutive starts.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 18, 2019
The best of all:
Yu Darvish has 24 strikeouts over his last 9 innings pitched.
By inning:
3 strikeouts
2 strikeouts
2 strikeouts
3 strikeouts
3 strikeouts
3 strikeouts
2 strikeouts
3 strikeouts
3 strikeouts— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) September 18, 2019
On the year, because of his terrible start, Darvish still has a mere 4.02 ERA (9% better than league average by ERA-). But in the second half? When he’s really figured things out? He’s got a 2.70 ERA, a 37.6% K rate, and a 2.5% BB rate. Those numbers are just absurd.