The Texas Rangers have decided not to take any chances with Yu Darvish’s tight right quadriceps.
After a staff meeting that included Darvish, manager Ron Washington decided to skip Darvish’s scheduled start Thursday and move him back to Tuesday against Tampa to give the quadriceps muscle time to settle down. Darvish has had some issues with the quad over the course of the season but said something after it flared up during his bullpen workout on Tuesday.
“He’ll be ready for his next start,” Washington said of Darvish. “We just want to make sure.”
Washington added that the decision was a “no-brainer.”
Roy Oswalt will make a second consecutive “spot start” for Darvish. Oswalt started for Ryan Dempster on Saturday in Toronto and pitched 4 2/3 innings before being removed with a 2-1 lead. In a pleasant coincidence, Oswalt will be pitching on the usual four days of rest for a pitcher.
Darvish has not missed a professional start since 2009, when he was still in Japan. He is 12-9, one win shy of a Rangers rookie mark, in 23 starts. He has a 4.51 ERA in 128 innings. With 172 strikeouts, he is poised to become only the second Ranger to record 200 strikeouts in the last 20 years. C.J. Wilson had 206 in 2011.
“I don’t look at it as an injury, just a precaution,” Darvish said in a statement released by the club. “It’s a small problem now. I want to handle it before it becomes a big problem.”