28 July, 2017
Darvish added, sarcastically, that he was going to use the trade rumor mill as an excuse for the poor outing.
In Seattle, Chris Sale pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, while 20-year-old Rafael Devers became the youngest Boston player to hit a home run since Tony Conigliaro in 1965 as the Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 to end a four-game losing streak.
All nine starters in the Marlins' lineup had at least one hit and one RBI in an offensive onslaught that produced a club record for runs and a season high for hits (22). Beltre's quest for 3,000 hits could now come in the next couple of games.
In San Diego, Luis Torrens had three RBIs, Manuel Margot homered and Jhoulys Chacin (10-7) gave up two runs and four hits in 5⅓ innings.
When second-base umpire and crew chief Gerry Davis motioned for Beltre to get closer to the on-deck circle, Beltre instead dragged the large plastic mat marking the circle closer to him. Manager Jeff Banister was also ejected after objecting to Beltre's ejection. "If you go look at the video, and look at all the hitters around there, they stand in a very similar spot". "I wasn't being amusing".
"We've always been in different leagues so I don't know what his top form is like", Ichiro said of Darvish. "This is a man that's chasing history, [who had an] opportunity to get another at-bat in front of our fans".
The Miami Marlins rocked Darvish for 10 runs in just 3.2 innings, the first time Darvish has allowed more than seven in his Major League Baseball career.
"Yesterday, the day before the game, of course I thought about [the trade rumors] a little bit", said Darvish, who saw his ERA rise to 4.01. He gave up two homers within the first three batters, then completely lost his touch in the fourth, an inning in which Miami scored nine total runs.
Darvish was coming off a three-start stretch in which he had a 2.86 ERA, and in his last start prior to Friday, he matched a season high with eight innings in which he struck out 12 against the Rays.