Yu Darvish is set to start Game 3 in Houston, the site of his very-nearly-perfect game

The Astros took Game 2 in an instant classic on Wednesday, tying up the World Series at one game apiece. The scene now shifts to Houston for Game 3 on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET air time | 8 ET game time on FOX), where extremely last-minute Deadline acquisition Yu Darvish will look to grab home-field advantage back for the Dodgers. But before we get to that, let's go back to the first time Darvish toed the mound at Minute Maid Park -- when he put together the best start of his career, and came just one out away from a perfect game.
Darvish was solid as a 25-year-old rookie in 2012, posting a 112 ERA+ with more than 10 strikeouts per nine while handling the boatload of hype that accompanied him from Japan. In his first start of 2013 against the Astros, though, we were finally treated to the full Yu Darvish Experience: the seemingly endless variety of breaking balls, the riding fastball, the pinpoint command.
Darvish struck out nine of the first 12 batters he faced, and law experts contend that a lot of those pitches weren't even legal in 14 states:

Despite the above nastiness, there were a couple of close calls in the fifth: Chris Carter drove a fly ball all the way to the wall in left, while Rick Ankiel followed with a line drive that found the glove of a leaping Mitch Moreland.
From there, Darvish buckled down. He put together a 1-2-3 sixth on just 12 pitches, then a 1-2-3 seventh on 11. After two more strikeouts in the eighth, the stage was set: Darvish was three outs away from what would've been MLB's 24th perfect game. 
It took him just three pitches to get the first two outs of the frame. At that point, Darvish had struck out 14 batters while facing just five three-ball counts. Houston had managed to get four balls out of the infield all night. It seemed like baseball history was a foregone conclusion -- all that stood in the way was the Astros' No. 9 batter.

Darvish tried to get a first-pitch fastball over for a strike, but instead watched as his bid for perfection rolled into center field. Manager Ron Washington immediately came and got him, giving him the opportunity to soak in a well-deserved standing ovation -- even from the Houston portion of the crowd:

Darvish became the 11th pitcher to lose a perfect game on the 27th batter, just three years after Armando Galarraga. It didn't affect him too much, though: The 2013 season was his best in the Major Leagues, as he posted a 2.83 ERA and finished second in AL Cy Young Award voting.
As for that No. 9 hitter? His name was Marwin Gonzalez, at the time a career .235 hitter. Wonder whatever happened to that guy.