SAN DIEGO (AP) — Yu Darvish returned to the San Diego Padres on Friday to a warm welcome from his teammates and got right to work, although he’s not sure when he’ll return to game action.
The 38-year-old right-hander was reinstated from the restricted list and returned to the 15-day injured list. Darvish was placed on the restricted list on July 6 to deal with a personal matter involving his family.
Darvish warmed up on the field and then threw a bullpen session.
“The bullpen was very good today, very satisfied with how things went out there,” Darvish said through an interpreter while sitting in the dugout. “As far as moving forward from here, I’ll have some conversations with the appropriate people. I’m not sure if it’s going to be a live BP or whether it’s going to be a rehab assignment, but we’ll get to that and then move forward.”
Darvish didn’t discuss the reason for taking the leave other than to say it was “a difficult decision to leave, obviously. Things can get complicated sometime. But, again, it’s really good to be back out on the field, in front of the fans, with the teammates and all that. All in all, it’s a great day.”
He said it was his decision to be placed on the restricted list. “At that point in time, it was difficult for me to go on the road and be with the team in that way. Plus, I thought it was wrong to be on the IL and collect salary during that time, too.”
When he was placed on the restricted list, he was on the injured list for the second time this season, with a groin strain. He was tentatively scheduled to be activated on June 25 and start against Washington but developed elbow inflammation and remained on the IL.
He is 4-3 with a 3.20 ERA in 11 starts.
The Padres are 22-8 since the All-Star break and went into Friday night’s game against the New York Mets holding the NL’s second wild-card spot.
“I’ve been watching the games and the team’s doing so good. It makes you think twice of whether it’s the right thing to come back,” Darvish said with a laugh.
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