Yu Darvish Still Dominating Spring Training, Cubs Offense Lights Up Mariners

Yu Darvish didn't start against the Mariners Friday night and he missed an offensive explosion, but the Cubs right-hander was able to relax after pitching four scoreless innings in a simulated game earlier in the day. Darvish struck out three, walked one and gave up a hit against some Cubs minor leaguers.

That was Darvish's third spring training outing, following starts against the Diamondbacks and White Sox. After pitching on Friday, Darvish was his jovial self, adding his sense of humor to some questions. On getting a chance to possibly face his former team, the Rangers, Darvish jokingly said this.

You can't say this enough about Darvish. After a terrible first year with the Cubs, marred with his elbow injury, Darvish really does have a brand new vibe around him. The new comfort level in his second year with the Cubs is translating to more confidence on the mound and it obviously helps that he's healthy now too.

Hopefully that confidence leads to great results for several years to come and those boos turn into Yuuuus at Wrigley Field.

Last year was obviously bad for Darvish, but it was particularly awful in three home starts. He gave up nine earned runs in 15 innings at Wrigley Field. So yeah, let's hope the boos disappear. As for Friday night's game against the Mariners, the Cubs offense lit up lefty Marco Gonzales, pounding 12 hits against him in 3.2 innings. All nine runs scored by the Cubs in their 9-3 win were charged to Gonzales, as they exploded for six runs in the fourth inning. The highlight of the night was Anthony Rizzo's first spring training home run, a moonshot to right field in the third inning.

Rizzo went 3-for-3 against Gonzales, David Bote also went 3-for-3 and added a walk while Albert Almora Jr. and Javier Baez tallied two hits apiece as well. By the way, right-handed reliever Allen Webster pitched two more scoreless innings and struck out three batters. He's one guy who could possibly replace Brandon Kintzler if the Cubs decide to cut ties with Kintzler this spring. https://www.sportsmockery.com/2019/03/spring-training-doesnt-really-mean-much-but-brandon-kintzler-still-looks-bad/ The Cubs play the Angels on Saturday and will take on the Brewers on Sunday. That game will be on WGN.