SURPRISE, Ariz. - Inspector Gadget, the secret identity of top-level starter Yu Darvish, appeared on Sunday.
Darvish, who relishes experimenting on the mound, broke out the split-finger fastball in his spring training debut with the Rangers. He used the pitch, last seen in 2014, about six times. The results were mixed, at best.
Darvish went to the pitch with two strikes in a count. He could not get the swing-and-miss tumbling movement of a good split. Instead, the pitch had the action of a lazy slider, rolling out of the strike zone.
That led to a two-walks, 25-pitch first inning in the 6-4 win over Kansas City.