LOS ANGELES – When Yu Darvish was asked about the prospect of facing Shohei Ohtani during the Superstar Prelims, he deflected.

He prepared to face anything nine Dodgers hitters, not just the best hitters in the world.

It was a sensible strategy.

The 38-year-old Padres veteran pitched seven strong innings in the Padres' 10-2 win on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, retiring Ohtani in all three meetings with him.

The key: There was no one on site at any of these meetings.

“I think it was important,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie. “I felt like I was able to concentrate really well on the mound, just going shot by shot and just having great focus. And I got in a little trouble in the second inning, but other than that I thought it was a pretty good night.”

Indeed.

Darvish scattered three hits and two walks, joining Kevin Brown as the only Padres pitchers with three postseason starts in seven innings on his resume. This lowered Darvish's ERA in Padres playoff games to 2.53, as the one-run, seven-inning performance matched the performance in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series in Queens in 2022 to put the Padres in that year to bring momentum into the NLCS.

Darvish struck out just three batters on Sunday, but the first was a big one: Ohtani hit a low-and-away slider to keep momentum on the Padres' side after Fernando Tatis Jr.'s home run in the first inning.

The Dodgers scored a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Gavin Lux to center with the bases loaded, but the inning ended with eight-hole hitter Tommy Edman hitting a double play at first base with runners on first and second put down second base.

The next inning, Miguel Rojas flied out to center and Ohtani grounded out to second.

In the fifth inning, Rojas flew out to center to end the inning with a runner on second, allowing Ohtani to lead off the sixth inning without doing significant damage, as he did with his three-run home run in Game 1 .

When he returned a tapper to the mound in the next inning, he moved Ohtani to 1-for-8 with two strikeouts in head-to-head matchups against Darvish, whom he calls his childhood hero.

In total, Darvish Ohtani threw six different pitches over 15 pitches spread across the three plate appearances.

Only one offering was a true four-seam fastball. Darvish threw four curveballs and four splitters.

“I tried to see how he responded to some of the throws I threw,” Darvish said. “I also tried to unbalance him by holding him a little longer, things like that, so you can do whatever you can to unbalance him.

“I think it worked out pretty well tonight.”

Padres manager Mike Shildt added: “Pitching is a disruption of the hitter's balance and timing… (and) Yu is really good at it. “The back and forth is the timing. The in and out is the balance. And he did that masterfully against the entire team tonight.”

Originally published: October 6, 2024 at 9:37 p.m