Cubs offense shut down by Yu Darvish in unhappy reunion

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For the Cubs, Saturday wasn’t a happy reunion with Yu Darvish.

Darvish was as dominant against his former team in the Cubs’ 6-0 loss to the Padres. He limited the Cubs to two infield hits in seven innings. He threw 115 pitches, the most he’s tossed in a game since 2017.

“I think that was the most fastballs I’ve ever seen him throw,” manager David Ross said. “So kudos to him. Threw a lot of two-seamers, locked up the lefties with the front hip. I mean, he had that going all day long. Those guys couldn’t even pull the trigger with two strikes.

“Made him work early, and then it looked like he just locked in the fastball to me, and that’s not his MO.”

Darvish is known for his vast arsenal. But 34% of the pitches he threw Saturday were sinkers, compared to his 10.6% season average entering the game, according to Statcast. He generated 16 called strikes on the pitch. 

“I think it is just keeping us kind of all off balance,” Miles Mastrobuoni said of Darvish’s effectiveness against the Cubs’ left-handed heavy lineup.

Mastrobuoni was the first batter to get a hit off Darvish, a ground ball single deflected by Darvish in the third inning. 

Against Mastrobuoni, Darvish threw mostly sliders. And he threw three straight to the left-handed leadoff hitter in his second at-bat. 

“I was looking for fastball early in that at-bat,” Mastrobuoni said. “And after he threw two straight [sliders,] I was still on the fastball but I was able to see a slider up and able to get a lucky bounce.”

The Cubs didn’t put anything in the air in fair territory until the fifth inning. And with Padres second baseman Ha-Seong Kim showing off his range, very little on the ground was effective. 

Dansby Swanson recorded the Cubs’ only other hit against Darvish, beating out a groundball single to third. 

“Darvish is a heck of a pitcher,” said Cubs starter Drew Smyly, who allowed three runs in 5 ⅔ innings. “He’s been doing it for a long time. Cubs fans know. And he was on tonight. He had a really good game. So anytime you’re going up against a pitcher like that, you know you’ve got to be pretty sharp. And we weren’t able to get anything going.” 

Smyly was right, Cubs fans do know. They watched him post a 3.60 ERA in three seasons in Chicago. And then before the 2021 season, they watched their club trade him and catcher Victor Caratini to the Padres for four prospects – including outfielder Owen Caissie, who is now the organization’s No. 12 prospect, according to mlb.com – and right-hander Zach Davies.