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Yu Darvish delivered a pitching masterclass to shut out Shohei Ohtani as the San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-2 on Sunday to secure a comfortable series-tying victory.
Japanese pitcher Darvish struck out Dodgers superstar Ohtani three times, a tour de force at Dodger Stadium that leaves the Padres in control of the best-of-five National League Division Series.
Darvish, who spent one season with the Dodgers in 2017, completely dominated the Los Angeles club’s vaunted offense in seven innings, allowing just three hits and one run.
The Padres bats, meanwhile, went to town on the Dodgers’ pitching.
Fernando Tatis Jr. set the tone in the first inning by hitting a home run off Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty before David Peralta added a two-run home run in the second inning.
Jackson Merrill’s single scored Tatis to make it 4-1 in the sixth inning. Merrill then hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning before Xander Bogaerts scored a game-winning run to increase the score to 7-1.
Kyle Higashioka and Tatis then sealed the win in the ninth inning, hitting solo home runs as the Padres hitters continued to dominate.
“There were a lot of emotions, but we controlled those emotions and took care of business today,” two-homer hero Tatis said afterward.
“If we keep showing up like this, there’s no limit to what we can do.”
Tensions erupted in the bottom of the seventh inning when Dodgers fans threw trash into the outfield, stopping play for several minutes as security intervened.
“It’s a show, and people were a little upset because our team moved up,” Tatis said. “But this is the playoffs and this is the environment we are built for. I enjoy every bit of it.”
The win puts the Padres in pole position to win as the best-of-five series travels to San Diego for games three and four on Tuesday and Wednesday.
– Phillies level –
In another playoff game on Sunday, Nick Castellanos was the hero as the Philadelphia Phillies pulled off a thrilling 7-6 walkoff victory over the New York Mets.
Castellanos’ line drive to left field sent shortstop Trea Turner racing across home plate and scoring the game-winning hit in the final act of another epic duel between the two National League division rivals at Citizens Bank Park.
“Unbelievable,” Castellanos said. “It was incredible. The series is even, but there is still a lot of baseball left. We need to turn the page and focus on game three as quickly as possible.”
The underdog Mets, who beat the Phillies 6-2 in Game 1 on Saturday, once again put up stubborn resistance in a back-and-forth encounter.
Mark Vientos smashed a two-run home run in the third inning to give the Mets a 2-0 lead before Pete Alonso hit a 370-foot home run to right-center field to give the visitors a 3-0 lead early in the sixth inning brought.
But after going a combined 13 scoreless innings in the first and second games, the Phillies hitters suddenly came to life in the sixth inning.
Bryce Harper hit a two-run home run to make it 3-2 before Castellanos tied it with a 425-foot moon shot in the same inning.
The Mets regained the lead on Brandon Nimmo’s home run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Phillies responded with two runs to make it 5-4 after Bryson Stott hit a triple in the bottom of the eighth.
After JT Realmuto made a fielder’s decision, Stott drove in a run, leaving the Phillies seemingly confident of victory, 6-4, heading into the final inning.
However, the Mets — who have made a habit of making late comebacks throughout their postseason campaign — weren’t finished yet.
Vientos hit his second home run of the game, scoring Francisco Lindor and leaving the score at 6-6 before Castellanos bailed out the Phillies again.
Game three of the best-of-five series takes place on Tuesday in New York.
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