Yu Darvish pitched seven shutout innings, extending his scoreless streak to 25 innings, and earned his 200th professional victory on Sunday as the visiting San Diego Padres hammered the Atlanta Braves 9-1.
It was the 107th win in the major leagues for Darvish, who won 93 times in Japan. Hiroki Huroda (203) and Hideo Nomo (201) also won 200 games between the major leagues and Japan.
Darvish (4-1) allowed only two hits and one walk and struck out a season-high nine. He retired the last 13 batters he faced after a two-out walk in the third inning to Ronald Acuna Jr. He has not allowed a run since missing 12 games on the injured list with neck tightness.
The Padres have won the first two games of the series and handed Atlanta its third consecutive loss. The teams complete the four-game set with a day-night doubleheader on Monday.
Atlanta starter Bryce Elder (1-2), pitching on his 25th birthday, was knocked out after facing four batters in the fourth and failing to get an out. In three-plus innings, he allowed seven runs (six earned) on nine hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Elder never recovered from a 41-pitch first inning and wound up throwing 93 pitches.
The San Diego offense produced 14 hits, with every starter getting at least one. Jurickson Profar had three hits and has reached base safely in 40 of his 44 games.
The Padres jumped on Elder for three runs in the first. Jake Cronenworth hit a two-run homer, his eighth, and Jackson Merrill added a run-scoring single.
San Diego scored four times in the fourth. Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled home two runs and came around to score on Profar’s double. After Manny Machado reached on Acuna’s fielding error, Xander Bogaerts brought Profar home with a sacrifice fly.
Luis Campusano, who grew up in Augusta, Ga., gave the Padres an 8-0 lead in the fifth with a solo homer, his fourth, that just snuck around the left field foul pole.
San Diego’s Ha-Seong Kim hit a solo shot, his sixth, in the seventh.
Atlanta avoided being shut out for the first time by scoring on Ozzie Albies’ single in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
