Darvish dazzles in 'fantastic' Game 2 start when Padres need it most

LOS ANGELES -- Never in the four seasons since Yu Darvish was acquired by San Diego have the Padres needed him quite as much as they needed him Sunday night.

Did Darvish ever deliver.

The veteran right-hander pitched seven innings of one-run ball as the Padres routed Los Angeles, 10-2, in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium. In the process, they evened a tense National League Division Series at one game apiece.

From the start, Darvish was efficient and effective, opening the game by setting down the fearsome top of the Dodgers' lineup in order. He got Shohei Ohtani to whiff on a nasty backdoor slider, setting the tone for one of the best postseason starts of Darvish’s excellent career.

“He was fantastic,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. “Threw the ball exceptionally well -- all parts of the lineup, including Ohtani. And give him a ton of credit for keeping the focus and concentration to be able to go grab that seventh inning.”

Indeed, Darvish’s seventh and final inning could’ve posed a significant challenge. But he merely seemed to shrug it off. Play was delayed for about 10 minutes after fans in left field threw objects in the direction of left fielder Jurickson Profar.

When it resumed, Darvish started the inning inauspiciously, by walking Teoscar Hernández. But he retired the next three batters in order to finish his night with the Padres’ three-run lead intact.

“I've never experienced anything like that,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie. “I was thinking it was important not to give up any runs in that inning. If you do that, the tendency is that the game flow changes. So my mindset was just: Shut them down here.”

Darvish did exactly that, and the Padres’ bats responded by pouring it on late. He exited after those seven innings, having allowed three hits and one run on just 82 pitches. He used a dazzling blend of breaking balls to keep the Dodgers' lineup off-balance -- and held a red-hot Ohtani to a strikeout and two tame groundouts.

“Pitching is a disruption of a hitter's balance and timing,” Shildt said. “... Yu is really good at that. The back-and-forth is the timing. The in-and-out is the balance. And he was able to do that masterfully tonight.”

Mookie Betts could’ve taken Darvish deep in the first if not for a wild home-run robbery by Profar. (Darvish later admitted to thinking the ball was gone, before he realized Profar had it in his glove.)

In the second, Darvish loaded the bases with nobody out. But he escaped with only one run, by getting a sacrifice fly and a line-drive double play. From there, the Dodgers never really threatened.

In a similar situation in 2022, Darvish also pitched the Padres to a Game 2 victory. But his performance on Sunday was arguably more important -- given that San Diego had recently lost Joe Musgrove for the season.

They needed Darvish in the worst way. After a season in which he missed significant time while on the injured list and the restricted list, Darvish delivered when the stakes were highest.

“It’s definitely a huge game,” said catcher Kyle Higashioka. “He did a great job, especially limiting damage early in the game. Then, once he settled in, he got in a groove.”