Cubs' Darvish has elbow impingement, will be re-evaluated in 3-5 days
The continuing saga of Yu Darvish has taken another turn. The Cubs' right-hander flew to Dallas to see Dr. Keith Meister, the orthopedist of the Texas Rangers, for whom Darvish played most of his career.
After Friday's 10-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field, the Cubs said Darvish has right-elbow impingement, for which he took a cortisone shot. He will be re-evaluated in 3-5 days.
Darvish said he felt pain Thursday, when he threw in the bullpen at Dodger Stadium. That was three days after he made a minor league rehab start at class A South Bend. Darvish threw the ball well at South Bend but said afterward he was not 100 percent.
He has been on the disabled list, effective May 23, with right triceps tendinitis.
"I talked a little bit yesterday with him," said catcher Chris Gimenez. "I played catch with him yesterday, caught his bullpen. I think he's just a little frustrated, to be honest with you, and rightfully so. I know he wants to get himself back out here. I really can't tell you how he's feeling. I honestly don't know. I just know that when you get so close and you have a setback, it's tough."
Once Darvish is cleared to pitch, manager Joe Maddon said he believes Darvish will need to make another rehab start.
"We'd love to have him out there pitching," Maddon said. "But it's not going to happen. I don't know exactly when it's going to happen. In the meantime, you play the cards that you have. You support Yu, and we have. I watched his workout yesterday.
"You could tell something wasn't appropriate or right, so we had to take it to this next level and be very patient with it. We saw here the other day when he threw here at Wrigley how good he looked. He looked fantastic. Even the little dab in A-ball looked really good, too, but something happened between then and yesterday. So we have to do something differently."
The Cubs signed Darvish to a six-year, $126 million free-agent deal on the eve of spring training. He has made 8 starts, going 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA.
Ready to roll:
Tyler Chatwood will start Saturday for the first time since June 19. He missed his last scheduled start as his wife was giving birth to a son.
"Good, really good," he said of his family. "Everybody's good. Getting a phone call about 3:30 in the morning, but it was good, being able to be there for it and everything. Then being able to spend some time with them afterward it was nice.
"I was able to come in here and throw, throw a bullpen. I feel good, ready to go tomorrow."
Bryant progressing:
Third baseman Kris Bryant is ready to begin hitting off a tee and taking ground balls as he recovers from left-shoulder inflammation. He is due to come off the disabled list next Tuesday.
Infielder Javier Baez did not start due to the birth of his son. Baez entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and stayed in to play second base.
Baseball in the sunshine:
The Cubs are in the early stages of playing nine straight day games. That hasn't happened for them since 2009, according to research historian Ed Hartig. Friday's game against the Twins began with a temperature of 96 degrees with a heat index of 106.
Friday's game began at 4:05 p.m. to give the Cubs a break coming off the West Coast. Day games usually begin at 1:20 p.m. The Cubs are not normally allowed to play Friday night games, but an exception was made last September.
"Spring training all over again: Sloan Park, Maryvale, Glendale, it's just the way it is," said Joe Maddon, who said he'd like 162 night games. "We'll be fine. A little warm today so I want to really keep an eye on everybody. It was kind of warm yesterday, too. Then, of course, you play and then you get on a plane and fly cross-country. There's all the impact of that. But our guys were great. We showed up after a tough loss the night before. We played. We played it yesterday. We played against really good pitching. Better at-bats, better approach at the plate. The team battled hard. I just liked a lot of what we did in Los Angeles."