Brewers top Darvish, Cubs
Cubs starter Yu Darvish allowed three runs in four innings and the bullpen failed to keep the game close in an 8-3 loss to their NL Central rivals.
The Cubs need Yu Darvish to return to his 2019 form sooner than he might think.
Darvish didn’t walk a batter while striking out five in his first start of 2020 on Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers. But he labored from the beginning, missed his target frequently and lasted only four innings in an 8-3 loss at Wrigley Field.
Manager David Ross said he pulled Darvish because of the heat — and because he needed 73 pitches to get through four innings.
“You could see the body language,” Ross said. “He was frustrated with himself.”
Darvish believed he could have thrown at least 80 pitches but acknowledged he needed 20 pitches just to get through the first inning. A botched rundown increased his total to 46 after two.
Darvish paused for several seconds before addressing which pitches needed polishing.
“I need to work on my splitter and changeup,” Darvish said. “My fastball and two-seam fastball are good.”
Darvish pointed to three mistakes: a “soft” cutter that Lorenzo Cain hit for a double in the second, hitting Omar Narvaez in the foot on a cutter, and a hard cutter that Mat Gamel whacked for a two-run triple in the third.
Left is all right: Kyle Schwarber didn’t get an opportunity to face many left-handers during summer camp.
So it definitely helped that Schwarber got to face crafty White Sox left-hander Dallas Keuchel on Monday. Getting two at-bats off Keuchel allowed Schwarber to prepare for facing left-handed reliever Brent Suter, who has started throughout much of his career.
Schwarber smacked a two-run homer off Suter in the fifth inning Saturday that closed the Cubs’ deficit to 4-3.
“It’s especially nice to see someone that you know you might see during (the rest) the season,” Schwarber said.
Entering this season, Schwarber was a lifetime .198 hitter against lefties.