Rangers’ Darvish has 1st rehab start pushed back

7:49 PM ET

CHICAGO — One day after Yu Darvish threw his latest bullpen session, looking ahead to returning to the mound with a rehab start April 26, the Texas Rangers announced his first rehab start will be pushed back another five days to May 1.

After Thursday’s outing, Darvish expressed dissatisfaction with the 47-pitch session, noting that not all of his pitches were where he wanted them to be, especially his curveball and his changeup. That dissatisfaction led to the decision to push his first live-game experience back to his next scheduled appearance the following Sunday. Darvish still will pitch Tuesday, but he will throw a longer bullpen session than he did Thursday, with four innings and 60 pitches as the goal.

“He just felt like he needed another bullpen session,” Rangers pitching coach Doug Brocail said. “He felt that he was strong [Thursday], but he wasn’t real happy where his off-speed [stuff] was. The nice thing is that this doesn’t set him back at all. Instead of going two [innings] and 30 [pitches in a game Tuesday], we’re going to go four and 60 this time. That means his next outing will be three and 45 so he stays on schedule.”

The expectation is that Darvish will throw this new, longer bullpen session Tuesday in Arlington while the Rangers are at home before reporting to Double-A Frisco to make his first appearance in a game.

Pushing back Yu Darvish’s first rehab start does not mean his potential return to action is off track. Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS/Getty …

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