After the New York Yankees were outbid by the Texas Rangers on Yu Darvish in the posting process last fall, they traded for Michael Pineda. It's still early, and Pineda could turn out to be everything the New York Yankees hope for him to be despite his shoulder injury that's lingering on longer than anticipated.
But the Yankees saw first-hand the guy they missed on. Darvish shut out the Yankees on Tuesday night in a way few pitchers can.
In the seventh-ever matchup of Japanese pitchers in the majors, Darvish threw 119 pitches and 82 strikes in 8 1/3 shutout innings and outdueled Hiroki Kuroda as the Rangers won 2-0. Darvish struck out 10 with an array of pitches that's just about unmatched now that Pedro Martinez is retired.
"We didn't really know what to expect," Derek Jeter said after the game, according to ESPN.com. "It's a challenge any time you face someone the first time, but he had a fastball, two-seamer, cutter, four-seamer, curveball, slider, change, split. He's got pretty much everything, and he pitched ahead in the count most of the game."
Update: Pineda is out for the season with a torn labrum.
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