Cubs Have Bizarre New Worry About Yu Darvish After Postgame Presser Thursday
By Scott Rogust
Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Yu Darvish was in the zone on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Phillies. After a strong seven innings of work, Darvish departed the game however, prompting manager Joe Maddon to go to the bullpen.
As you all know, the Phillies came back and got the walk-off win thanks to a grand slam from Bryce Harper, flipping the game entirely on its head.
After the game, Maddon was asked about pulling Darvish from the game. The skipper replied by saying Darvish told pitching coach Tommy Hottovy that felt he was losing his mechanics and command after the fourth inning...the fourth inning?!
Joe said Hottovy talked to Darvish after the 7th and he was done for the night. Darvish agreed, said he got out of his mechanics after the fourth and was losing his command.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 16, 2019
Talk about a bizarre set of circumstances.
In those seven innings, Darvish struck out 10 batters, while only allowing four hits and zero walks. That's impressive, even if Darvish felt he was losing command of his pitches.
This is a concerning situation, however, as Darvish has had four consecutive strong performances in which he hasn't allowed a walk while striking out eight or more batters. You don't want him to lose ANYTHING at this juncture. Which Darvish can we expect the next time out?
Yu Darvish has not issued a walk in four consecutive starts.
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 16, 2019
He is the first Cub since at least 1908 with 8+ strikeouts and no walks in four straight starts.
He was also the first Cub to do it in three straight. pic.twitter.com/W8KuPHcAtN
While Yu Darvish did power himself through the seven innings, his status for his next scheduled start will be monitored closely by Chicago Cubs fans around the world.