Padres' Yu Darvish May Not Return Soon After All: Report

The San Diego Padres just snapped a six-game losing streak recently, but the losing pattern was mainly due to the pitching staff coughing up a good chunk of runs.

Now, pitching reinforcements have been delayed as Yu Darvish suffered a setback in his recovery.

For most of the season, the Padres' pitching staff has been rock-solid, keeping the team in games as several bats were out for extended periods of times due to injuries, though over the past couple of the weeks, the bullpen has not been reliable and has been struggling to keep runs off the board.

Yu Darvish, an ultra-experienced pitcher, was meant to be getting healthy soon to help aid the pitching woes, though his rehabilitation has seemingly gone awry.

Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports that Darvish has struggled as the rehab has ramped up, which last led to a minor league start.

"But the Padres cannot bank on Yu Darvish making his 2025 debut anytime soon; the 38-year-old opened the season on the injured list with elbow inflammation, and he hasn’t recovered as well as hoped since a rehab start more than a week ago," Lin wrote in an update on Darvish's health.

In his rehab start for Triple-A El Paso, he pitched four innings, giving up two runs, one of which was a home run, and a walk with four strikeouts.

He only pitched 51 pitches, just shy of the 60 pitch goal that the team had established, though his recovery from the outing has not gone well, and now it will be some time until he gives it another go.