Yu Darvish confirms he was tipping pitches to Marlins

Yu Darvish acknowledged that he was tipping his pitches in his last start against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.

The Rangers right-hander said he was pausing slightly before throwing his fastball and was quicker to his glove before throwing a breaking ball.

Yahoo Sports columnist Jeff Passan tweeted Saturday that “two scouts and an executive said [the] Marlins knew what was coming from Darvish. A slight pause with hands when he was throwing his fastball.”

Darvish responded with a tweet thanking Passan for sharing the report.

Darvish demonstrated the difference in his windup before Saturday’s game.

He said he’s started his windup in a similar fashion since coming back from Tommy John surgery last season. But early in his first start after the All-Star break in Kansas City manager Jeff Banister noticed the tell and alerted Darvish, who altered his movements. After allowing a first-inning run, Darvish held the Royals two runs over the next  5 2/3 innings.

“So I get to Tampa and I feel like they don't know what’s coming,” said Darvish, who allowed three solo homer over eight innings. “Then the last outing, I felt like they knew it. I didn’t know if I was tipping or not, and then after the game, I watched the video.”

Darvish said he felt weird after Dee Gordon collected his first homer of the season in the first inning. It was followed by Christian Yelich’s homer.

Darvish said it’s not easy to notice, especially in the middle of a game.

“It’s hard to find,” he said. “I don’t know why the Marlins scout said that to the media. Because I can fix it! You know?”

This story was originally published July 29, 2017 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Yu Darvish confirms he was tipping pitches to Marlins."