Cubs' Darvish gives himself a poor grade for Tuesday's outing
Yu Darvish is a top contender for the National League Cy Young Award but gave himself poor marks for Tuesday's performance against Cleveland.
"Today, I didn't have anything," Darvish said after the game. "I could throw strikes, that's it. The defense and offense had my back.
Darvish gave up a season-high 9 hits, along with 3 earned runs and 7 strikeouts. He would have been the winning pitcher without Jeremy Jeffress' blown save in the ninth inning.
This was Darvish' ninth consecutive quality start. But he set the bar extremely high by winning seven straight games in seven starts while never giving up more than 1 run. So he wasn't happy with Tuesday's trip to the mound.
"I was terrible. I didn't have nothing, absolutely nothing," he said. "Still, I can't believe I threw seven innings today and we won. That's what we all needed. That's why I'm happy now."
Darvish does think he's reached the point in his career when he can still survive without his best stuff.
"Last seven years, eight years in the big leagues, when I feel bad I can't go more than five innings," he said. "Today's totally different than before. I'm so surprised, but I'm so happy."
Manager David Ross had a very different assessment of Darvish's performance.
"I thought he did a nice job," Ross said. "I thought he threw the ball really well. Limited the damage, mixed his pitches well. Typical Yu tonight."