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Yu slides back into form
- Updated: September 10, 2016
ANAHEIM — It was all about the slider on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
After a shaky start against Houston five days earlier, Rangers right-hander Yu Darvish made some mechanical adjustments in order to better establish his most effective out pitch. The result was three hits, one earned run and nine strikeouts in the Rangers’ 2-1 win over the Angels in the series opener.
“Some really, really good sliders today,” catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “That’s his wipeout pitch. That’s his really good pitch. It breaks really big. He throws it hard, but he can take a little bit off of it and throw it for a strike when he wants to. When you establish that really high in the count and use it in conjunction with his fastball, it creates a pretty good deception.”
The fastball Lucroy mentioned worked especially well, too. Just ask Mike Trout, who struck out twice against Darvish, the second time on a 97-mph …
