Maddon: Ball is in Darvish’s court

Before Saturday’s game, Maddon said he was “curious” to see how Yu Darvish would respond after a strong outing last weekend against the Diamondbacks.

“The ball is in his court, literally,” Maddon said, adding that he had not spoken with Darvish about what was expected, hoping he would just pitch without overthinking.

“Keeping it simple,” Maddon said. “I’d really like to just see him pitch on a visceral level, just become primal. Just go out and throw it without a lot of thought. I really wouldn’t mind if he didn’t even have a scouting report.”

But the only thing primal Saturday were the screams from Cubs fans upset with every walk and wild pitch Darvish issued against the Cardinals. Maddon let Darvish bat for himself after Taylor Davis’ tying grand slam in the fourth, but Darvish walked the first two batters in the fifth on nine pitches while adding a wild pitch, promoting his removal.

Darvish allowed five runs on six hits and five walks, throwing 81 pitches — the same number Kyle Hendricks threw in his four-hit shutout Friday. He said his stuff was good, but he used too many sinkers.

“The results were no good, but I can fix it for next time,” he said. “I want to pitch good, but the first goal is the team to win.”

Said Davis, Darvish’s catcher: “Yu threw the ball well. The results are going to be misleading, people who didn’t watch the game. At the end of the day he made some really quality pitches.”

Extra innings: Daniel Descalso left with a sore left ankle he suffered during the first inning and is day to day. … Mike Montgomery allowed one hit in six innings on rehab assignment for Triple-A Iowa on Friday and is stretched out enough to return this week. … Davis became the first player to hit a grand slam for his first home run as a Cub since pitcher Kevin Tapani in 1998.