Dodgers News: Yu Darvish Left Start with Back Tightness
Yu Darvish did not have his best game of the season last night against the Chicago White Sox.
He gave up eight hits, one walk and three earned runs that all came on solo home runs over the course of his six innings against the Chicago White Sox on his 31st birthday. The biggest and most surprising stat out to come out of his entire start was that he only struck out two batters. That was the least amount of strikeouts he has had in a game over the course of his 125 career starts.
Yu Darvish finished with two strikeouts in Wednesday's start, the fewest in his 125 career starts.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 17, 2017
Darvish managed to get through six complete innings, but did come out and throw his warm up pitches before the 7th. He then came out before making any pitches, replaced by Brandon Morrow. It appeared as though Darvish wanted to complete the 7th inning, but he had a conversation with Clayton Kershaw before he went back out there.
Yu Darvish said Clayton Kershaw convinced him to exit after six innings tonight. “We need you really bad in six weeks,” Kershaw told him.
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) August 17, 2017
Clayton Kershaw told Darvish to think about the big picture, which is a World Series victory. The team will need Yu Darvish healthy in October more than they need him for one extra inning in the middle of August.
Removing Darvish looked to be for precautionary reasons, not a long term injury to worry about. Darvish has also been swinging the bat lightly due to the fact that he injured his thumb against the Jacob deGrom in New York during his first start as a Dodger.