Baseball: Darvish named Opening Day pitcher for 2nd straight year

Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish will take the Opening Day mound for the second straight year and third time in his career, the San Diego Padres said Thursday. Japan will have two Opening Day pitchers in the majors for the third time with Darvish facing the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 7 and Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani taking on the Houston Astros. Last year, Darvish and Kenta Maeda of the Minnesota Twins opened the season for their clubs. “That’s not a difficult call,” new Padres manager Bob Melvin said on choosing Darvish. “Not only does he know how to pitch and how to com…

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