Padres' Yu Darvish Reacts to Finally Making Season Debut After Elbow Injury

After being without their ace for nearly the entire first half of the season, the San Diego Padres reactivated right-hander Yu Darvish for his season debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

“It feels good to be back,” Darvish said after the game. “You know, a little bit nervous going back in there, but it’s definitely good to be back.”

The five-time All-Star allowed three hits and two runs over 3.2 innings on the mound. He flashed his usual brilliance while asking shaking off the expected rust.

Darvish said getting back to MLB pitching has helped him figure out what adjustments he needs to make going forward. 

“It’s a good thing to be back on the mound, back on the big-league mound,” Darvish said. “You find out what you need to adjust, what you need to work on. So I’ll just keep making those just adjustments, keep working and looking forward to the next one.”

Darvish is known for having a diverse pitching repertoire and regularly relies on eight different pitches. His slider is his second-most used pitch (19 percent) behind his curveball.

Throwing a slider places more strain on the elbow, which was concerning for Darvish during his season debut as he was returning from an elbow injury. But fortunately for Darvish, he did not experience any issues while throwing the slider.

“I was a little bit worried,” Darvish said about throwing his slider. “It’s a little bit stress on the elbow area, and just to be able to throw that pitch without any issues, I think that was the positive part of about today.”

Padres manager Mike Shildt expressed his excitement about having Darvish back in the rotation. Now, San Diego is just waiting for starting pitcher Michael King to recover from his injury.

“Encouraging, very encouraging,” Shildt said. “… He’s only going to get better the more he’s out there. It was very, very encouraging outing for Yu. And it’s good to see him back out there and see number 11 on the mound for the Padres.”

Darvish’s return came at the perfect time for the Padres, who are in the middle of a close National League Wild Card race. The Padres, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals are within 1.5 games of each other for the final Wild Card spot.

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.