Yu Darvish turned in his best start for the Los Angeles Dodgers since debuting with the team in August, and it led to a 9-3 victory in the series opener against the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers reached 100 wins on the season for the first time since 1974.
Darvish struck out the side in the fourth inning, was at an efficient 48 pitches up to that point, and had yet to allow a baserunner. He started the fifth with a strikeout but then lost a perfect game, no-hitter and shutout bid all within the next two batters.
A pitch in the dirt hit Cory Spangenberg to give the Padres their first batter who reached, and Hunter Renfroe followed with a line-drive RBI double that carried over Chris Taylor’s head in center field.
If it was any consolation for Darvish, he allowed a leadoff single in the sixth. Darvish stranded the runner at second base and finished with nine strikeouts over seven innings. He’s allowed just one earned run in the past 19.1 innings (three starts).
The Dodgers slugged their way to a win, with Travis Wood and Cory Mazzoni taking the brunt of it. Logan Forsythe drove in four of the Dodgers’ eight runs, including three on one crack of the bat.
Wood struck out Cody Bellinger with the bases loaded in the first inning, only to surrender a three-run double to Forsythe. He later lined a solo home run into the left-field pavilion. It was Forsythe’s second game this month with two extra-base hits and fourth overall this season.
Mazzoni promptly walked Forsythe after he replaced Wood, and compounded the free pass by allowing a three-run home run to Austin Barnes. As for Forsythe, he added a single in the bottom of the seventh and finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
Rob Segedin’s base hit to right field scored Yasmani Grandal, who led off the eighth with a ground-rule double.
In his second relief appearance this season, Kenta Maeda hit a batter, threw a wild pitch, and saw a run score after allowing a pair of infield singles. Then a would-be double play was squandered when Barnes threw the ball away at first base.
Pedro Baez was booed after allowing a leadoff single in the ninth, and there were groans when Jabari Blash doubled with two outs, but they turned into cheers once Baez managed to finish out the Dodgers’ win.
