Yu Darvish honors his former teammate Anthony Rizzo by using his famous walk-up song.
During his first at-bat in Wednesday afternoon’s game, San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish paid tribute to his former Chicago Cubs teammate Anthony Rizzo by playing his walk-up music.
Rizzo has become synonymous with “Intoxicated” by Martin Solveig and GTA during his run with the Cubs. Darvish was Rizzo’s teammate on the North Side the three previous years prior to being traded to the Friars this offseason. During their three years as Cubs teammates, you could say Darvish and Rizzo were pretty close.
“I used that song because it was Rizzo who kind of took care of me when things weren’t really working my way in Chicago,” said Darvish through his interpreter. “It was, in a way, to say ‘thank you’ to him. And obviously, I have a good relationship with him.”
Chicago took the final game of the series, beating the Padres 3-1 at Petco Park.
Yu Darvish walks up to the plate blasting Anthony Rizzo’s song “Intoxicated”
Darvish’s three-year run with the Cubs had its highs and lows. His first year only saw him pitch in eight games, yield a 1-3 win-loss record and an ERA almost at 5.00. Though he was considerably healthier in 2019, he gave up a league-high 33 home runs and had another sub-.500 record. However, everything ended up going his way in his last season in 2020.
In a condensed 60-game season, Darvish was 8-3 in 12 starts, boasting a 2.01 ERA. He finished second in NL Cy Young Award voting to Trevor Bauer formerly of the Cincinnati Reds. Darvish made the All-MLB First Team for his terrific bounce-back season. While he was traded to San Diego this winter in a cost-cutting move, Darvish at least was able to leave Chicago for the Padres on a good note.
Darvish using Rizzo’s walk-up song at Petco is the ultimate tribute to his former Cubs teammate.