After Yu Darvish signed a six-year, $126 million contract with the Chicago Cubs in the offseason before the 2018 season, few could’ve ever imagined that it would take him over a season and a half to record his first win at Wrigley Field.
Nonetheless, despite making his first start at the Cubs’ home stadium in April of 2018, it wasn’t until July 17, 2019 against the Cincinnati Reds that he picked up his first win at his home stadium.
Darvish pitched six excellent innings, allowing only two hits and no runs while walking zero batters, to lead the Cubs to a 5-2 win over the division rival Cincinnati Reds. He struck out seven batters and held the Reds’ lineup completely in check.
It was easily the best start that Darvish has made at Wrigley since joining Chicago, a marriage that hasn’t been quite as fruitful as either party would’ve hoped. In 2018, Darvish made only 8 starts due to an elbow injury, and he recorded a bloated 4.95 ERA in those outings.
2019 has been a bit kinder to the Japanese righty, who has gone 3-4 with a 4.46 ERA, but he had still been unable to get over his home woes until Wednesday afternoon.
Now, he’s broken down a major barrier, and hopes to use this momentum to carry the Cubs’ rotation down the stretch and into the playoffs.
