Making his sixth start of the 2024 season, Yu Darvish finally won his first game on Tuesday, April 30.
The San Diego Padres snapped a five-game losing streak on the same night, beating the visiting Cincinnati Reds 6-4 at Petco Park.
Darvish (1-1) threw five scoreless innings, holding the Reds to three hits. He issued zero walks and fanned three.
In the fifth inning, Padres slugger Manny Machado bashed a three-run double off Reds starter Nick Martinez with no outs for the big hit in the game. That made it 4-0.
San Diego extended its lead to 5-0 entering the sixth, when the bullpen took over.
Former Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Yuki Matsui, who's in his first MLB season, was the fourth of five Padres relievers to pitch after Darvish's departure. Matsui, 28, worked 1⅔ scoreless innings.
"Yuki was great," Padres manager Mike Shildt said, according to The Associated Press. "Quality strikes, pitches in the zone. He did a nice job tonight."
Ex-Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Hanshin Tigers reliever Robert Suarez then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 10th save of the season.
Darvish said he was focused on helping the Padres halt their losing streak.
"Obviously, you are in there trying to get us out of the funk, so that is the mentality — let's stop the losing streak right here," Darvish was quoted as saying through an interpreter by The Associated Press. "Overall, the ball was coming out right. I had pretty good command for the most part."
He threw 50 of 70 pitches for strikes.
The Padres activated Darvish from the 15-day injured list on Monday. The 37-year-old had been sidelined with a neck strain. He hadn't pitched since April 14.
Rave Reviews for Yu Darvish
Shildt was impressed with Darvish's effort against Cincinnati.
"That was fantastic by Darvish," Shildt said, according to MLB.com. "He was tremendous. We know what we're going to get out of Yu. But, of course, he was on a limited pitch count (75 pitches), and we weren't sure what his innings would look like.
"He hit pretty much his ceiling on the pitches but did it in tremendous fashion. … He looked like Yu Darvish, which is pretty special."
Darvish, a five-time MLB All-Star, is closing in on a major pitching milestone in his career. He now has 197 wins, including 93 with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters before joining MLB's Texas Rangers in 2012.
Having Darvish back on the mound is an essential part of the Padres' blueprint for success this season, according to Machado, who has four homers and 16 RBIs.
"The biggest thing is to have him healthy," Machado said, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. "If he can stay healthy all year, you know, obviously getting him 15 days off to kind of, like, regroup and get right is huge. So having him tonight go up there, you couldn't ask for a better man to get us back on track."
Around the Majors
Entering May, the third month of the MLB season, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani leads all players in doubles (14). He's also fifth in slugging percentage (.618). Ohtani has seven homers and 19 RBIs and is batting .336 in 32 games.
Boston Red Sox outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida went 4-for-5 in a 17-0 rout of the Chicago Cubs on April 27.
Batting .233 on April 25, Yoshida raised his average to .269 by the end of Boston's next game thanks to his four-hit effort.
Entering May, Yoshida has a .275 average with two homers and 11 RBIs this season.
RELATED:
- Shohei Ohtani Era Begins as Dodgers Rally to Beat Padres in the MLB Opener
- [ODDS and EVENS] 3,000 and Counting: Yu Darvish Endures As a Strikeout Artist
Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login