Although it got off to an auspicious start as a youngster jumped on his first pitch for a homer, Yu Darvish’s outing today against minor leaguers went just fine. He wore a bandaid as he was supposed to (blister), and had no issues over his 71 pitches.
Yu Darvish’s line: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 2 groundouts, two flyouts, two infield flyouts, 71 (45), 9 swinging strikes, 10/19 first-pitch strikes.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) March 24, 2019
So, then, everything is in place for him to have a normal bullpen session next, and open the season against the Rangers, as originally planned.
Darvish feeling ok. Pitched the entire outing with band aid on. He’ll have to throw a bullpen session without the band aid and that will come Thursday. If all ok he’ll still pitch next weekend.
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 24, 2019
Yu Darvish loves messing with people now, and I am extremely here for it:
Coy Darvish on when he will start: pic.twitter.com/VwtkW5b1NE
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 24, 2019
Yu's become very good at messing w media as he was being coy about when he would pitch. All indications are he'll start Sat, but he was being sly, saying he'll throw a side Thurs, "3 days before my start." When we questioned him on it, he just laughed. Love that he's trolling us
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) March 24, 2019
In sum, he’s ready:
Theo high-fives Darvish before Darvish walks into clubhouse
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 24, 2019