Yu Darvish on track to start Sunday against Angels

Yu Darvish was scratched from his scheduled start on Tuesday due to a stiff neck, but the Rangers won’t be without him for long.

According to Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com, Rangers officials said Darvish’s neck felt better after a long-toss session earlier today. He’s currently scheduled to throw off a mound tomorrow, which sets up a potential return this Sunday against Zack Greinke and the Angels. That should be a doozy of a matchup.

Darvish has compiled a 3.90 ERA through 28 starts in his first year stateside and currently ranks fourth in the American League with 214 strikeouts in 184 2/3 innings. The 26-year-old right-hander has logged seven straight quality starts and has a 1.46 ERA and a 42/8 K/BB ratio over his last five outings. Assuming he feels good enough to make the start Sunday, he’ll be in line to start Game 1 of the postseason.

The Diamondbacks selected the contract of pitcher Clay Buchholz from Triple-A Reno ahead of Sunday’s game against the Mets. It marked Buchholz’s first major league start since April 11 last season (also against the Mets) when he was a member of the Phillies. Shortly after that start, he was diagnosed with a partial tear of his flexor pronator mass and he ended up not being able to pitch the rest of the season.

Buchholz signed a minor league deal with the Royals but he opted out of his contract at the beginning of this month. The Diamondbacks signed him to a minor league deal a few days later, needing depth with a depleted starting rotation. Buchholz made two starts for Reno before getting the call Sunday.

Buchholz, 33, pitched well on Sunday against the Mets, lasting five innings and limiting the opposition to a run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. His only blemish was allowing a solo home run to Amed Rosario leading off the sixth. He was immediately relieved by T.J. McFarland afterwards.

It is not yet clear if Buchholz will get another turn through the D-Backs’ rotation.

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