Farquhar pitches simulated game in comeback from aneurysm

Danny Farquhar, who suffered a brain hemorrhage during a game 10 months earlier, returned to game action on Sunday for the first time in an "encouraging" step in his journey back to being a major league player. Pitching for his new team, the New York Yankees, in a simulated game at a near-empty Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., Farquhar recorded a pair of strikeouts and walked a batter in a scoreless inning of work with his wife and three children in attendance.

"I saw them while I was warming up," Farquhar said afterward. "We talked about it. I told them I wanted them to be in the stands. Just to see my family, my kids so happy and just enjoying themselves, it gives me that extra boost of energy." It marked his first live game experience since he collapsed in the dugout between innings during his relief appearance with the Chicago White Sox last April 20 because of a brain hemorrhage that was attributed to a ruptured aneurysm.

Farquhar had surgery the following day at a Chicago hospital, remained in the hospital for over two weeks and was sidelined the rest of the season. The Yankees signed the pitcher, who turned 32 one week earlier, to a minor league contract in January. His first simulated appearance came with the custom cap that provides protective padding that fits inside his cap to guard the skull area where he had surgery.

"Extraordinarily successful being the fact that I wasn't thinking about anything besides striking everybody out," Farquhar said. "I wasn't thinking about my helmet hat, I wasn't thinking about anything else. My focus was what it's been in the past. Just create swings and misses. That's what I call normal." The Yankees plan for Farquhar to pitch in another simulated game later in the week.

"To have the team support in here is incredible," Farquhar said. "I feel it 100 percent from all my teammates." Farquhar is 10-15 with a 3.93 ERA in 253 career relief appearances with the Toronto Blue Jays (2011), Seattle Mariners (2013-15), Tampa Bay Rays (2016-17) and White Sox (2017-18).

He was 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA in eight appearances with the White Sox in 2018 prior to his injury. --Field Level Media