Yu Darvish allowed just two hits and a walk over seven scoreless innings Sunday as he pitched the San Diego Padres to a 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Japanese right-hander struck out seven to help San Diego continue its recent dominance of the National League West-leading Dodgers, who saw their buffer over the second-place Padres shrink to 5.5 games. He needs just one more victory to reach 200 career wins spanning the majors and Nippon Professional Baseball.
"I want to achieve that as soon as possible so I can feel at ease," he said.
Using fastballs and his hard slider to attack a Los Angeles lineup missing Shohei Ohtani at Petco Park, Darvish (3-1) tied his career high with 18 straight scoreless innings, something he first did in 2013, according to MLB.com.
The 37-year-old said a tweak to his mechanics had yielded good results on the mound.
"I was grasping a little last time, but this time I was able to do things within the overall flow," Darvish said. "When I sensed batters were expecting a breaking ball, I could apply pressure by attacking them with a fastball."
Darvish was disappointed to miss out on a battle with Samurai Japan teammate Ohtani, who was rested by Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts after experiencing tightness in his back late in the previous day's game.
"I had been looking forward to pitching against the Dodgers for weeks. I hope he gets better soon," Darvish said.
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