STARTING PITCHERS
Dodgers’ Yu Darvish
The Dodgers have simplified Darvish’s approach since acquiring him from the Texas Rangers in July, convincing him to dump his split-finger fastball and slow curveball and stick with his slider and cutter. The results have been astonishing. In his first six starts with the Dodgers, he had a 5.34 earned-run average; in his last five, including two playoffs starts, his ERA is 0.80. That means the Astros probably will be unfamiliar with Darvish on Friday, even though they’ve faced him 14 times in his career, winning five of those games. Astros manager A.J. Hinch on Dar vish: “We’ve had history with him. It doesn’t guarantee anything. There’s no more comfort facing Darvish on Friday than there was three months ago in Texas. We’ll have more information on him, but the games will have to be played on the field.”
Astros: Lance McCullers Jr.
A former first-round draft pick, McCullers notched career highs for starts (22) and wins (7) this season and was especially good at home, going unbeaten in nine starts and posting a 3.04 ERA. He’s carried that success into the playoffs, giving up only three runs in one start and two relief appearances. He came out of the bullpen in the final AL Championship Series game against the New York Yankees to give up just one hit in four scoreless innings, earning the save. The right-hander’s repertoire consists primarily of a 12-6 curveball, a hard sinker, change-up and mid-90s four-seam fastball.
Hinch, a former catcher, on McCullers, who finished the Yankees off with 24 consecutive cur veballs: “I’ve never been around or caught a pitcher like McCullers, who literally the last [24] pitches you don’t even have to put a sign down. [Brian] McCann just said ‘bring it.’ And it shows the quality of the pitch. He’s not sneaking up on anybody with his stuff. People know.”