Baseball Daily Dose: Daily Dose: Look At Yu
Yu Darvish hadn’t pitched in a major league game since August 9, 2014.
You wouldn’t know it by watching him Saturday.
Darvish, who underwent Tommy John surgery 14 months ago, struck out seven while allowing just three hits over five innings in his season debut against the Pirates. The right-hander threw 81 pitches, earning his first victory of the year in the process.
Darvish didn’t ease into the action, either. The 29-year-old came out pumping, touching 98 mph with his fastball in the early innings, per MLB.com’s Gameday. He got 12 swinging strikes among the 51 strikes recorded, with six of his seven punchouts coming by way of swinging strike.
The dominance came as no surprise to those who watched him pitch in the rehab starts leading up to Saturday. In 20 total rehab innings, Darvish posted a 0.90 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 21/6 K/BB ratio.
Saturday’s start offered little to take issue with, but it’s unlikely that Darvish will sail through this season without complication. The list of pitchers who haven’t been affected by the major elbow surgery is short, and even certified studs like Matt Harvey (well, the former version of Matt Harvey) and Jose Fernandez have taken time to get back up to speed.
That said, Darvish aced his first test Saturday. We’ll see how the ace fares next week against the Mariners.
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Mets Get Loney To Fill 1B Void
The Mets needed a first baseman. James Loney needed an opportunity.
The move that made too much sense to not happen ended up happening Saturday, as the Mets acquired Loney from the Padres for cash considerations. Loney wasn’t expected to be activated until Monday or Tuesday.
The need for a first baseman arose after Lucas Duda hit the disabled list earlier in the week with a stress fracture in his back. With Duda sidelined and the Mets lacking a viable internal option to replace him — top prospect Dominic Smith has played just 46 games above High-A — Loney was a natural target, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said.
“Loney was sort of an immediate, obvious possibility in terms of ease of acquisition and a variety of things, so we took a look at what might be available to us out there,” Alderson said. “We had somebody go in and look at James last week. We had had some reports from earlier in the month and felt this was the right move for us at the moment. Hopefully Lucas is back soon, but in the meantime we felt we needed probably another left-handed bat. James doesn’t have a lot of power, hasn’t demonstrated that, but we’ve got that elsewhere in the lineup. Somebody that hits from the left side, contact hitter, doesn’t strike out a lot, can be a nice fit for us. We just have to see what happens.”
The 32-year-old Loney had been playing well with the Padres’ Triple-A El Paso affiliate prior to the trade, batting .342/.373/.424 with two homers and 28 RBI in 43 games. Loney has yet to play in an MLB game this season but hit .280/.322/.357 in 104 games with the Rays last season.
Although the price wasn’t steep, the trade suggests the Mets don’t have high hopes for a speedy return from Duda. There remains no timetable for his return, with Mets manager Terry Collins saying Monday that Duda will be out “a while” with the injury.
In the meantime, Loney will play first base primarily against right-handers, Collins said Saturday, with Wilmer Flores and others handling duties against most lefties. Loney certainly isn’t a mixed league target but could be useful in NL-only leagues given his surroundings in the Mets’ lineup.
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Tulo Hits DL With ‘Low-Grade’ Strain
Troy Tulowitzki hit the disabled list on Saturday with a strained right quadriceps, but the 31-year-old says it’s not something he’s too worried about.
“Nothing serious, but enough to put me on the DL,” Tulowitzki said before Saturday’s game after an MRI found a “low-grade” strain.
Tulowitzki left Tuesday’s game against the Yankees with tightness in the quad, and he told reporters that he originally injured the muscle while stealing second base in that game. Tulo sat out Wednesday and Thursday before returning to the lineup Friday.
But the shortstop went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Friday’s affair, and he hit the shelf a day later. Tulowitzki also made a throwing error in that game, one of the indications that he wasn’t right, he said.
“I wasn’t myself out there,” Tulowitzki said. “That’s not me at all. Usually I’m throwing on the run and pretty accurate. I set my feet and threw it wide.”
Tulowitzki’s optimism regarding his outlook offers hope that he won’t be out beyond the minimum 15 days. In the meantime, the surprising Darwin Barney, who’s hitting .316/.350/.461 in 76 at-bats, will likely see the bulk of the playing time at shortstop for the Blue Jays.
National League Quick Hits: Chase Utley‘s heel turn in New York added a new chapter Saturday, as the second baseman homered twice — including a grand slam — in a win over the Mets. Utley also inadvertently got Mets starter Noah Syndergaard tossed when Syndergaard threw at the 37-year-old in the third inning … Julio Urias‘ stay in New York was shorter than some productions of Hamilton, as the 19-year-old was sent back down to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday. Urias is young, scrappy and hungry, though, and he’ll get another shot before long … A hamstring injury forced Matt Cain to the 15-day DL. The Giants recalled Chris Stratton in his place, and Stratton will take Cain’s spot in the rotation while the veteran is sidelined … Denard Span was scratched from the Giants starting lineup on Saturday due to a bruised right hip. Span is still dealing with a bit of soreness from crashing into the outfield wall earlier in the week … Trayce Thompson was removed from Saturday’s game against the Mets due to lower back soreness. Thompson left the game in the fifth inning and was replaced by Yasiel Puig in right field … A day after being hit in the foot by an Adam Conley pitch, Erick Aybar went on the 15-day disabled list Saturday. The good news is that it’s only a contusion, meaning the shortstop should be back after the required two-week stay on the shelf … Buster Posey did most of the heavy lifting in Saturday’s win over the Rockies, swatting two, three-run home runs in a 10-5 win … Randal Grichuk had an RBI double and a triple Saturday against the Nationals. He’s now got four multi-hit games in his last five starts, raising his average to .237 with a .755 OPS … The Reds don’t win often, but when they do, it’s still Tony Cingrani closing out games. The southpaw struck out three in a scoreless ninth inning Saturday to earn his fourth save of the season … Kyle Hendricks logged his second career complete game in Saturday’s one-run, five-hit domination of the Phillies. Hendricks struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter in the ballgame … On a day that Chase Utley got the last laugh in Queens, the hits kept coming for Ruben Tejada — the shortstop was designated for assignment by the Cardinals.
American League Quick Hits: A scary-looking injury to Salvador Perez was diagnosed as a quad contusion following Saturday’s game. It’s unclear if Perez will avoid a trip to the disabled list, but this is nonetheless promising news for the Royals, as it appeared in real-time that the 26-year-old catcher suffered a significant knee injury. More should be known Sunday … Carlos Santana took his leadoff duties to heart Saturday, getting two hits, scoring a run and stealing a base against the Orioles. Santana has now reached base safely in 10 straight games … Evan Longoria homered and drove in four runs in a win over the Yankees. He’s now got nine homers and 24 RBI overall … Danny Valencia hit a home run and scored three of the Athletics’ 12 runs against the Tigers on Saturday. The once-DFA’d Valencia is now hitting .311/.341/.521 with seven homers on the year … Russell Martin was in the middle of the action in a Blue Jays’ come-from-behind win, going 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI against the Red Sox. Martin hit a game-tying RBI double in the ninth inning and came around to score the winning run in the 10-9 thriller … Dallas Keuchel recovered from a shaky start to limit the Angels to two runs over seven innings in Saturday’s 4-2 win. Keuchel gave up back-to-back solo homers to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in the first inning but settled down to put up six zeroes in his final six innings of work. The southpaw gave up just one other hit, didn’t walk a batter and struck out five on the night.
