San Diego Padres Japanese starting pitcher Darvish Yu failed to pick up his first win of the season in his third start.
Darvish pitched well against the St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA, on March 3, allowing three runs on five hits (one home run) with six strikeouts and one walk over seven innings.
But it wasn’t a win. The team led 2-1 going into the fifth inning. Darvish had what it took to win the game. But in the top of the sixth, he hit Wilson Contreras with an 87.3-mile-per-hour splitter on three pitches for a two-run home run.
The game was now 2-3. Darvish didn’t falter and got out of the sixth without allowing another run. He returned to the mound in the seventh and kept the St. Louis offense at bay with two strikeouts.
But with no more run support, he was relieved by Yuki Matsui in the top of the eighth inning, trailing by one run.
According to Japanese media outlet SporNichi Annex, 스포츠토토 “Darvish allowed one run (unearned) on two hits in 3⅔ innings in the opener in Seoul, South Korea, on March 20. In the mainland opener on March 29, he pitched five innings of one-run ball against the San Francisco Giants, but the bullpen was unable to protect the lead.”
“I felt good, but my stuff was off,” Darvish said after the San Francisco game. My slider hasn’t been good since Korea,” he lamented.
Darvish is four wins away from 200 career wins in the United States and Japan.
Campusano’s RBI single in the top of the second inning gave the Padres the lead, and after Darvish scored a run in the top of the third, Wade’s RBI double in the bottom of the fourth gave San Diego the lead again.
But that was as close as the offense would get, as Darvish, who had been pitching well, gave up a long ball in the top of the sixth inning to put his first win on hold.