Darvish motivated for Yankees bats, plus first meeting vs. Tanaka

Yu Darvish starts Friday’s opener against the Yankees in New York.

For Darvish, it’s not just another start. He’s facing fellow Japaneze pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (5-7, 6.34 ERA) for the first time in the majors. They faced off four times in Japan. Darvish (6-5, 3.35) was 2-1 with a no decision in those meetings.

Darvish tired to play down the meeting with Tanaka, especially considering the Yankees’ lineup, which has scored 394 runs and hit 114 homers, both third-most in the majors entering Thursday’s games.

“The Yankees have a good lineup. It’s going to be an important game for both of us,” Darvish said. “It’s good if maybe we both pitch well and we when the game.”

Darvish is coming off a rough start on Sunday tagged him for five runs on eight hits, including a four-run first inning

“The last outing it was my fault,” he said. “It’s simple. I didn’t do what I can do. I need to just stay focused on what I can do. Control what I can control.”

The last time he faced Tanaka was in 2011 at the Tokyo Dome. Darvish said he doesn’t remember much, except for Tanaka throwing a ball away on a pick-off attempt at first.

“I know he’s looking forward to it … that’s great. But my focus is to the win the game tomorrow. I’m facing the Yankees hitters so my focus is on them.”

How about facing Aaron Judge, who leads the majors with 24 home runs.

“He’s a good hitter, but the whole lineup is good and they’re hot,” Darvish said.

Jeffress to DL

Ranger reliever Jeremy Jeffress was placed on the 10-day disabled list before Thursday’s game with a lower back strain. Jeffress felt pain during warmups two days ago but pitched anyway. He allowed a hit and struck out one while recording the first two outs on eight pitches in the eighth on Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

“It was just one pitch. I waited to receive the ball back, I turned to my right and it just felt like something grabbed,” Jeffress said. “I felt OK pitching. My adrenaline was going, but I didn’t feel it as much, but then I woke up the next morning and I couldn’t get out of bed.”

His back was still stiff Thursday morning. He’s not sure how much time he’ll need down. His DL stint is retroactive to Wednesday so he’d be eligible to come back on July 1.

“I’m going to just let it run its course, see what happens with treatment. We’ve got one of the best training staffs, so we’ll treat it and see how it goes,” he said.

Right-hander Preston Claiborne was called up from Triple A Round Rock to help fill the void. Claiborne, 29, had a 1.37 ERA with 13 saves in  26 1/3 innings for Round Rock. He last pitched in the majors with the Yankees in 2014. He has a 3.79 ERA in 71 1/3 relief innings in the majors between 2013-14 for the Yankees. Claiborne graduated from Carrollton Smith High School in 2006.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Darvish motivated for Yankees bats, plus first meeting vs. Tanaka."