The San Diego Padres have placed starting pitcher Yu Darvish on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 15, the club announced Wednesday. The veteran right-hander is dealing with neck tightness. As a corresponding move, the Padres recalled right-handed pitcher Logan Gillaspie from Triple-A El Paso.
Darvish, 37, is 0-1 with a 4.18 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 22 strikeouts against 10 walks in 23 2/3 innings this season. He’s already made five starts. He missed time last season due to an elbow injury and has had back/neck issues in the past, though the last time he hit the injured list with a neck injury it was called the disabled list, as it was 2013.
Darvish is currently on the second year of a six-year, $108 million extension with the Padres.
With Darvish down, the Padres have Dylan Cease, Joe Musgrove, Michael King and Matt Waldron needing a fifth to round out their rotation.
Jhony Brito has 13 career starts, but he isn’t stretched out right now and pitched in relief on Tuesday. Darvish’s next turn is Saturday, so it’s possible they’ll hold Brito back and see if he can go something like three innings before piecing together a bullpen game behind him. Randy Vasquez is in the minors and is stretched out as a starter. He pitched on April 13, so the Padres could hold him back from his next start and bring him up for Saturday. Of course, he has a 7.94 ERA in his three Triple-A starts this season. Jackson Wolf could be an option but he’s also off to a terrible start.
The Padres head into Wednesday’s matinee in Milwaukee having won six of their last eight.
