Cubs at Diamondbacks
The Chicago Cubs haven't gotten much out of Yu Darvish in the 13 starts he's made for the club, but he hopes to start turning the corner when the team visits the streaking Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday for the middle contest of their three-game series. The 32-year-old, who is 2-6 with a 5.31 ERA since signing with the Cubs in 2018, continues to struggle with his command, issuing 18 walks and allowing six home runs in five starts this season.
"I’m working from the perspective of (trying) to let him go deeper and deeper and deeper and have him leave the ballpark feeling good about himself,’’ Chicago manager Joe Maddon told reporters about Darvish, who has yet to pitch the seventh inning in a Cubs uniform. Arizona prevailed 8-3 on Friday for its season-high fifth straight victory as Wilmer Flores knocked in three runs with two singles. Adam Jones (.317) recorded a season-best three hits on Friday and is 7-for-17 with five RBIs in his last five contests for Arizona, which gives the ball to an inconsistent Zack Godley on Saturday. The Cubs have lost two straight after winning seven of their previous eight and are back at .500 as they continue to spin their wheels in April.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, ABC 7 (Chicago), FS Arizona
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs RH Yu Darvish (1-3, 5.96 ERA) vs. Diamondbacks RH Zack Godley (1-1, 6.67)
Darvish allowed three runs, five hits (two home runs) and three walks while striking out seven in five innings of a 6-0 loss to Arizona on April 20, dropping him to 2-1 with a 3.28 ERA in four starts versus the Diamondbacks. "The fastball velocity came up as the game was going on, the breaking ball got sharper," Maddon told reporters about the native of Japan. Darvish has a 1.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio with Chicago after a 3.3 in his first five seasons with Texas and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Godley continued his bad start-good start pattern by yielding four runs, seven hits and four walks in four innings of the Diamondbacks' 12-4 victory at Pittsburgh on Monday. The 29-year-old South Carolina native permitted a total of three runs and eight hits over 11 2/3 frames in his second and fourth starts but has a 9.98 ERA in his first, third and fifth outings. The Cubs' Kyle Schwarber is 3-for-9 with five strikeouts against Godley, who is 1-2 with a 5.14 ERA in four starts versus Chicago.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cubs SS Javier Baez (.327, 22 RBIs) belted his club-best ninth home run Friday and is 9-for-18 with three blasts in his last five games.
2. Diamondbacks RF David Peralta (.333) recorded his 13th double on Friday, breaking the franchise record for two-base hits before May previously set by Paul Goldschmidt in 2014.
3. Chicago 1B Anthony Rizzo went 0-for-4 on Friday to snap a six-game hitting streak during which he went 7-for-19.