MINNEAPOLIS — Yu Darvish looked nervous in his first major-league start Monday against Seattle. From the looks of his first warm-up pitch Saturday at Target Field, those nerves were still there in his first road start.
Darvish's first warm-up pitch prior to the first inning against Minnesota nearly sailed over catcher Mike Napoli's head. Napoli had to jump up to catch it to stop it from sailing all the way to the backstop.
But, if the nerves were there for Darvish once the game began, he didn't show it. The 25-year-old Japanese import allowed just two runs (one earned) against a Twins lineup that had never faced him before. While Minnesota had plenty of runners on base in the 5 2/3 innings Darvish pitched — 14, to be exact — he was able to escape with little damage and strand plenty of Twins runners as Minnesota could never deliver a knockout blow.
"We definitely had some good at-bats off of him," said Twins center fielder Denard Span, who had two hits off Darvish. "He pitched a good game. Obviously he got out of a lot of trouble. But we just weren't able to get the big hit when we had his back to the wall."
Against Seattle in his MLB debut, Darvish struggled through a four-run first inning. He walked the first Mariners batter he faced on four pitches and allowed three straight hits to fall behind by a pair of runs early. He then threw a wild pitch, issued two more walks and gave up a single.
It was a much different start to Saturday's game. Darvish retired Span and Jamey Carroll to open the game before giving up a two-out single to Joe Mauer. With Mauer on first, Darvish fanned Justin Morneau, one of four strikeouts the right-hander recorded in the game.
The Twins' first run off Darvish came in the second inning, with two outs. After a Danny Valencia single, Chris Parmelee advanced Valencia to third on a bloop single to left. Rangers third baseman Michael Young wasn't able to handle an Alexi Casilla line drive, allowing Valencia to score.
But Darvish escaped with just the one unearned run by leaving the bases loaded when he got Carroll to strike out. It was a sign of things to come for the Twins, who left 15 total runners on base Saturday.
"We left a lot of (runners) out there. We had some opportunities to get him," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He threw a lot of pitches in five innings. We made him work. We did a good job of that. We had our chances. We just didn't finish him off."
Darvish's day ended in the sixth inning after he loaded the bases with two outs. He allowed an RBI double to Span, hit Carroll with a pitch and walked Mauer to fill the bases. But reliever Robbie Ross came in to face Morneau, who popped out to end the inning to keep Darvish's stat line from turning ugly.
"Although I gave up nine hits, all of them weren't hard hits," Darvish said through an interpreter. "Comparing the last two outings, the number of hits, to the way I pitched in Japan, that's hard to compare. I'm still going through the process of adjusting to the team, adjusting to the culture and adjusting to baseball over here."
Minnesota saw infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka struggle to adjust to the American game last year, as he broke his leg in the first week of the season and started this year at Triple-A. But after facing Darvish just one time, the Twins see the potential in Texas' right-hander.
"It's hard to compare him to anybody," Span said. "I think once he learns the game over here and learns the hitters and learns the American style of baseball, I think he'll be a good pitcher for a while."
For Darvish, that's the biggest adjustment right now — adapting to a different style of play. Saturday was another game that included a lineup of players he had never faced, and it will be that way for a while this season.
While all eyes remain on Darvish every time he pitches — over 40 visiting media members were credentialed for Saturday's game — Darvish remains focused on learning more about each new opponent.
"The main adjustment I have to make right now is knowing the hitters, knowing the teams," said Darvish, who threw 102 pitches in Saturday's no-decision. "If I can start to learn those hitters and record them in my mind, those are the adjustments that I have to go through. It'll get much better as the season goes on."
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