While the Los Angeles Dodgers have questions remaining in their bullpen and in left field, the starting rotation is largely solidified. On the surface, it was strengthened at the non-waiver trade deadline with the acquisition of Yu Darvish.
In reality, the right-hander struggled after making his Dodgers debut. What’s more, back soreness forced Darivsh to the 10-day disabled list, during which time he worked with Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt to improve his delivery and refine mechanics.
After a rough patch that came with implementing those changes, Darvish appears to have hit his stride. “Yu was in complete control,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Darvish’s outing against the San Diego Padres.
“The cutter, breaking balls, just the tempo was very good. A lot of weak contact. It was good to see the confidence continue to build.”
Darvish took the mound having just allowed one unearned run in 12.1 innings across his last two starts. He held the Padres to one run on three hits, and struck out nine in seven innings. “I’m in a really good position, physically and mentally,” Darvish said through an interpreter.
Roberts acknowledged the Dodgers are more at ease now, as the 31-year-old is 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA, 21 strikeouts in 19.1 innings pitched, and held opponents to a .136/.162/.167 batting line in his past three starts.
“A lot of the credit goes to Yu and his buy-in and understanding of what Rick was trying to do with the information we were giving him from upstairs. It didn’t start out great for him, there was a transition, but right now he’s in a pretty good place.”
