On Monday night, he even gave up an astounding seven doubles against the Boston Red Sox.
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, who managed against Darvish in Japan, said this is not the same pitcher who was so dominating across the other side of the Pacific.
“I never saw him look like that,” Valentine said after the Red Sox’s 9-2 victory over the Texas Rangers. “He wasn’t very good, actually. His stuff was flat.”
Since the beginning of July, Darvish is 1-4 with a 7.04 earned run average (ERA) while walking 24 batters in 38 1/3 innings, and his record is now 11-8 with a 4.57 ERA. His career ERA in Japan was 1.99.
After Monday’s loss, Darvish said, “For anybody, when things don’t go right, you naturally feel frustrated. A lot of players go through it. It’s important for me not to break, but stay focused and be ready for each start. I think I have to bear down and keep grinding it out.”
Darvish gave up 11 hits, walked four and struck out nine Monday. But manager Ron Washington said Darvish’s command was not the problem.
“I think you have to give the Boston Red Sox credit,” Washington said. “They swung the bats tonight. He threw the ball in the strike zone, and they hit him. The [box] score doesn’t look good, but he threw strikes and used all his pitches.
“When he threw his secondary pitches for strikes, they hit it. When he threw his fastball for strikes, they hit it. It just wasn’t Yu Darvish’s night. It was the Boston Red Sox’s night.”
Washington said he will take his chances with Darvish if he can throw strikes like he did Monday night. But the 11 hits were a season high and seven of them were doubles, the most given up by a Rangers pitcher in one game. Darvish had not allowed more than two doubles in any of his previous starts.
Darvish knows this isn’t good enough, and like the Red Sox manager, he knows that something is drastically different from what he did in Japan.
“When I came over, I had to make adjustments to the Major Leagues, and I have been open to that,” Darvish said. “But the Rangers want me for the pitcher that I was. Pitching coach Mike Maddux said you go out and give it all you got, battle and compete and stay focused. Don’t get too emotional or get too upset.
“Instead of just trying to get hitters out, I was worried about things like throwing first-pitch strikes. I was thinking negatively. That was something that I had never done in Japan. I need to just focus, compete and just get hitters out….
“Overall, my pitches were pretty good, but I gave up some hits that weren’t hit too hard, and I gave up extra-base hits when I shouldn’t have,” Darvish said. “A lot of things are not going my way right now.”