San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish made his season debut on Monday in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks (GameTracker). Darvish, 38, had been sidelined by proper elbow irritation.
It was hardly a classic Darvish outing, however it was one thing to construct on for the adorned right-hander and a Padres crew that sorely wants him. In 3 ⅔ innings, Darvish permitted two runs, each earned, on 4 hits with 5 strikeouts and three walks. Of his 63 pitches, 41 went for strikes.
Early on, he flashed a classic breaking ball to strike out the primary batter he confronted in Corbin Carroll:
As is usually the case with a Darvish begin, he threw nearly each pitch in existence — eight completely different choices, to be precise. He went to the curve a plurality of the time, however that got here to only 22% of his whole pitches. He earned 12 whiffs on 5 completely different pitches, together with 5 on the sweeper. As for Darvish’s fastball, it touched 95.9 mph and averaged 95.1 mph on the night time. That is a full tick over what his four-seamer averaged final season, and it is an encouraging signal transferring ahead.
Darvish had made only one look as a part of a rehab task. He threw 4 innings for San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate, delivering 51 pitches and holding the opposition to 2 runs on two hits and a stroll. He struck out 4 of the 14 batters he confronted in that sport.
“It actually simply comes down from a bodily standpoint,” manager Mike Shildt said on Sunday. “We all the time have an open day on the schedule for Yu Darvish to start out.”
Darvish, underneath contract by way of the 2028 marketing campaign, was restricted to only 40 mixed begins during the last two seasons since ending eighth in Cy Younger Award balloting in 2022. He compiled a 4.09 ERA (102 ERA+) and a 3.37 strikeout-to-walk ratio over that span. Darvish is, after all, on the tail finish of an achieved worldwide profession. He is made 5 All-Star groups and has cleared greater than 33 Wins Above Alternative, based on the estimates housed at Baseball Reference.
Darvish was one in all a number of notable Padres starters on the shelf. San Diego stays with out Joe Musgrove (out for the season following Tommy John surgical procedure), Michael King (shoulder irritation), and Ryan Bergert (forearm contusion).
The Padres entered Monday with a 48-41 document on the season, tying them with the San Francisco Giants for the Nationwide League’s third and last wild-card spot.