Darvish plans to make next start despite early exit

Right-hander Yu Darvish expects to make his next start for the Texas Rangers after exiting early from his Friday outing with tightness in his right triceps muscle.

Darvish tossed seven scoreless innings on only 88 pitches against the New York Yankees, striking out 10 and allowing only two hits and no walks, but he didn’t return for the eighth inning in an eventual 2-1 loss in 10.

Manager Jeff Banister revealed that Darvish felt tightness, similar to what caused him to be scratched from a start during spring training, and didn’t want to risk further injury.

Darvish said that he started feeling discomfort in the fourth inning and finally thought it was best to pull the plug before the eighth. Tanner Scheppers worked a scoreless inning, but Matt Bush allowed a run in the ninth and the 10th to lose the game.

“It’s nothing that I feel pain,” Darvish said. “At this time of the season, I don’t want to push it and affect my next outing. I think I’m going to be fine for the next outing.”

His next start would come either Wednesday or Thursday at Cleveland. The Rangers could be without Martin Perez next week after the left-hander slammed his right thumb in his hotel door late Thursday and broke a small bone and tore off the nail.

Andrew Cashner’s return from a mild strain of his left oblique is also uncertain, though he is hopeful it can be next week.

Cole Hamels is expected to rejoin the rotation Monday after missing seven weeks because of a strained right oblique.

This story was originally published June 24, 2017 at 12:21 AM with the headline "Darvish plans to make next start despite early exit."