ARLINGTON - The Rangers may have gotten rained out on Sunday, but Yu Darvish brought a little bit of sunshine to pitching coach Doug Brocail's day anyway.

Darvish threw 50 pitches over three "innings" to hitters in a batting cage. Hitters were not permitted to swing because of the reduced space and the possibility for injury, but it didn't deter Brocail from calling it something special.

"It was really good," Brocail said. "The breaking ball was crisp. The slider was unbelievable. The fastball was good and hard with both two- and four-seamers. He threw strikes in a lot of good areas. As we measured it, there were a lot of 0-2 and 1-2 counts."

In all Darvish made 101 throws off the mound with 30 warmups, seven before each "inning" and the 50 pitches. He will throw a similar session Thursday on the field, during which hitters will be permitted to swing.

After that: A rehab start for Double-A Frisco on April 26, provided there are no setbacks. He would likely make a three-inning start at Frisco. If he just builds up to five innings, it's conceivable he could start as few as three times in the minors and be back by May 11. If he throws four times in the minors, a May 16 return might be more reasonable.