Right-hander Yu Darvish, who left Tuesday’s start in the fifth inning because of a finger blister, threw on the side Wednesday and reported feeling “great,” manager Joe Maddon said. But Maddon didn’t rule out pushing the presumptive No. 2 starter in the rotation back to start the season as a precaution.
“It depends what happens the next time he goes out there,” Maddon said, “because we just have to make sure that when he goes out and pitches that there’s no real chance to open it up again. He’s been throwing the ball great. He’s feeling wonderful. I don’t want it to be impacted by a blister.”
Darvish said the skin broke on the blister on the middle pad of the right ring finger on the final pitch he threw. He’s scheduled to make his final start of the spring Sunday, possibly in the more controlled environment of a minor-league game.
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“He said he’s ready to rock and roll,” Maddon said. “So we’ll just play it the proverbial one day at a time.”
Hamels completes six
It wasn’t the way he would have scripted his final pitch-building start of the spring, but left-hander Cole Hamels went six full innings, just five days after hitting his pitch limit in the fourth. He allowed four runs — including home runs to A.J. Pollock and Corey Seager — seven hits and two walks. He gave up a lot of hard contact.
Hamels has one more abbreviated tuneup next week before making his first start of the regular season, which is expected to be the final game of the opening series in Texas on March 31.
On deck
Giants at Cubs, Mesa, 3:05 p.m. Thursday, cubs.com radio, Jeff Samardzija vs. Kyle Hendricks.
