Luis and I were feeling good when we arrived at Four Winds Field to watch the South Bend Cubs today, as Cubs’ ace Yu Darvish was slated to mount his comeback to the Major Leagues (and pitch to the Cubs top prospect, Miguel Amaya, in the process!).
And the good vibes were maximized, when he ended the first with a 95 MPH fastball to strikeout the final batter:
95 MPH on Yu Darvish‘s first strikeout since coming back.
Clean first inning, stranding two runners in scoring position. pic.twitter.com/kMxL97KmJg
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) August 19, 2018
But it all evaporated quickly, as Darvish took the mound for some warmup pitches before the second and left with the trainer without throwing another pitch.
Altogether, he threw just 19 pitches (10 for strikes) and that’s all we know for now. We’ll update this post as we learn more.
UPDATE: In his post-game meeting with the press, Darvish mentioned that he felt something similar to his last rehab start (also at South Bend back on June 25th). Instead of pitching through it again (like last time), he decided to call it.
… And is apparently requesting an MRI.
Yu said he felt something similar to last rehab start. Instead of pitching through it, he stopped. He’s requesting an MRI but obviously doesn’t know anything yet.
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) August 19, 2018
A little more:
Darvish told reporters he would undergo an MRI, assess the results and still would like to pitch this season. Same discomfort as last rehab start on June 24
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) August 19, 2018