The Astros’ win over the Dodgers in World Series Game 3, explained in 9 stats

It got late early for Yu Darvish.

The Houston Astros chased Darvish quickly on their way to defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3, in Game 3 of the 2017 World Series on Friday night. While Darvish’s early struggles taxed the Dodgers’ suddenly vulnerable bullpen, the Astros got nine innings from the 1-2 punch of starting pitcher Lance McCullers and reliever Brad Peacock.

Here are nine numbers that tell the story of how the Astros took a 2-1 lead in the series:

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yu Darvish lasted just 1.2 innings in the shortest regular or postseason start of his career. Darvish gave up more hits (6) than he recorded outs (5) while putting the Dodgers in an 0-4 hole early. He allowed a home run and issued a walk while recording no strikeouts.

Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel homered into the Crawford Boxes in left field on the fourth pitch from Darvish in the second inning. The 379-foot drive gave the Astros a 1-0 lead they would not relinquish. The homer was his 17th hit of the 2017 postseason, breaking a tie with Bert Campaneris for the most hits by a Cuban-born player in a single playoff run.

Astros batters were crushing the pitches thrown by Darvish in his disastrous second inning, turning around five of them with exit velocities of 99+ miles per hour.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used five relievers after Darvish exited in the second inning of Game 3. He used Kenta Maeda for 2.2 innings, Tony Watson for 1 frame, Brandon Morrow for 2 outs, Tony Cingrani for 2 outs and Ross Stripling for 1.1 innings. It was the second game in a row that the Dodgers used 6+ pitchers. Only five teams have ever done that in the World Series.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning and his team leading 5-3, Astros center fielder George Springer hit a ball to right-center field that appeared on its way to being a game-breaking grand slam. Instead, 408-feet from home plate, Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor managed to make a catch near the wall. The out kept the visitors within striking distance, but may have also exacerbated the bullpen strain.

Dodgers rookie first baseman Cody Bellinger donned a golden sombrero with four strikeouts in Game 3. The National League’s Rookie of the Year frontrunner was totally baffled by McCullers’ curve in the early innings and struck out against Astros reliever Brad Peacock in the eighth. All four strikeouts were swinging.

Astros reliever Brad Peacock fired 3.2 innings of no-hit relief after taking over for McCullers in the sixth inning. He picked up his first career postseason save and recorded the longest no-hit relief outing in a World Series since 1964.

The Astros extended their perfect 2017 postseason home record to 7-0 with a win on Friday night. Houston joins the World Series champion 2008 Phillies as the only teams to begin a postseason 7-0 at home. They are one of just three teams to win seven consecutive home games in a postseason run.

The Game 3 winner in a best-of-seven postseason series that was tied 1-1 has gone on to win it 68.9 percent of the time, going 62-28.