By Patrick Reddington of FederalBaseball.com
So it's 3:47 am Saturday morning. I've stayed awake to watch a live stream of Yu Darvish's start for the Nippon-Ham Fighters in the first game of their Climax Series matchup with the Seibu Lions which started about two hours after the St. Louis Cardinals won the seventh game of their World Series matchup with the Texas Rangers. Darvish threw (unofficial count, the broadcast was in Japanese online) 101 pitches in 7.0 innings, striking out seven and allowing just one run, which was an earned one.
The 25-year-old right-hander left the game with the Fighters ahead 2-1 after allowing a leadoff double and RBI single in the seventh. A strike'em out, throw'em out double play got Darvish out of trouble in his final inning on the mound in what could be his last start for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham's Fighters if he does indeed make the jump to the major leagues next season.
Darvish left the mound then watched from the dugout as the crowd chanted constantly, in unison through two more innings in which the Lions threatened to tie it, and they finally did in the top of the ninth, officially handing the Fighters' ace a no-decision. Darvish finished his seventh season pitching for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham in the Pacific League (18-6) with a 1.44 ERA, 276 K's (10.71 K/9), 36 BB (1.40 BB/9), 5 HR's and 42 runs (37 ER) allowed in 232.0 IP and 28 starts, 10 of them complete games, six of them shutouts.
You can read the rest of the article here: Washington Nationals Weekend Notes: Yu Darvish Strong In Loss, Bryce Harper Homers Again.
No comments:
Post a Comment