Righthander Darvish has enjoyed success at Minute Maid
The stage will be new for Yu Darvish, but not the surroundings.
The Los Angeles Dodgers righthander will start Game 3 of the World Series on Friday night at Minute Maid Park, where he has enjoyed an ample amount of success over the years.
Since 2013, Darvish is 4-1 with a 2.16 ERA in six starts at the Astros’ home while with the AL West rival Texas Rangers. That ledger includes 56 strikeouts in 412⁄3 innings. The lone loss came in 2014, and Darvish won his lone 2017 start in Houston, tossing seven innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 victory June 12.
But Darvish largely dismissed that familiarity in his media availability Thursday.
“I feel like it doesn’t really matter,” Darvish said through a translator. “It’s better to know that I’ve pitched here before. But (Friday’s) game, it could be totally different from my previous outings here. But like I said, it’s better to know this stadium, and I pitched here before. Maybe it will give me a little bit of an advantage, but it really doesn’t matter.”
Darvish, traded at the July 31 non-waiver deadline to the Dodgers, went 4-3 with a 3.44 ERA in nine regular-season starts with the Dodgers. He has a pair of Game 3 wins this postseason, in the NLDS against the Diamondbacks and the NLCS against the Cubs. He allowed two earned runs over 111⁄3 innings, with 14 strikeouts to one walk.
But Darvish hasn’t faced the Astros since that early June start. In his career, he’s 5-5 with a 3.44 ERA against the Astros in 14 starts. The most memorable came April 2, 2013, when Darvish was one out away from a perfect game before giving up a single to Marwin Gonzalez.
Gonzalez and Jose Altuve are the only players still with the As- tros who were in the lineup that night. Among Astros regulars, George Springer has had the best success against Darvish, batting .333 (6-for-18) with two homers, three RBIs and a 1.000 OPS. The next-highest average belongs to Alex Bregman at .222 (2-for-9).
And which Darvish is seen Friday apparently is a matter of perspective.
“Me, personally, I really don’t change much going into (Game 3), but to them I’m a different kind of pitcher, different type of pitcher in my pitch selection,” Darvish said. “So they feel I may have a different approach.”