SAN DIEGO—Yu Darvish surrendered only two hits in seven dominant innings Sunday, May 12, leading the San Diego Padres to a 4–0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, and Xander Bogaerts hit solo home runs for the Padres, who have won five of the eight games against the Dodgers this season.
“They’ve been really unpredictable. Part of it is attacking some of our hitters’ weaknesses, going to their strengths,” Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said. “But I really think that they’ve just mixed and matched well, and they’ve executed. Obviously, they get up to play us, and they’ve played well.”
The Dodgers dropped two of the three games in the series after having run off a seven-game winning streak.
The Padres have won four consecutive series.
“It means that we can play good baseball at the highest level,” Tatis said. “This series was as clean as possible for us.”
Darvish (3–1) struck out seven and walked one in a sterling performance that lowered his earned-run average to 2.43. He has thrown 18 consecutive scoreless innings, tying a career high.
“The plan was to kind of see how they reacted to the pitches. The fastball was coming out of the hand right. It was working nicely,” Darvish said. “Obviously, they are a very good team, but to be able to take the series against them, for sure it is going to give us some confidence moving forward.”
Dodgers starter Walker Buehler (0–1), pitching in just his second game this season after having undergone a second Tommy John surgery, had an ineffective and abbreviated outing. He gave up two runs, five hits, two walks, and hit a batter in 3 1/3 innings.
“I’m not going to put much stock in two outings. I think getting him back here, back in competition mode is a good thing, and I think the stuff is good,” Mr. Roberts said. “My confidence and belief in him [haven’t] wavered at all.”
Buehler surrendered consecutive homers to Tatis and Cronenworth in the first inning for a 2–0 Padres advantage. Bogaerts’ solo homer came in the fifth off reliever Gus Varland to give the Padres a 4–0 lead.
“It felt nice. You finally hit one that you know is gone,” Bogaerts said. “We are playing really good baseball at home.”
Cronenworth’s home run was initially ruled in play, as it appeared the ball hit either the top of the wall or right behind it, and then bounced back onto the field. Cronenworth took a home run trot around the bases and, to his surprise, was tagged at third. But after the Padres challenged the play, it was overturned and ruled a home run.
“I was not confused,” Cronenworth said when asked if he knew it was a home run. “I saw it go over the wall and then kick back.”
The attendance mark of 133,970 for the weekend set a three-game series record in the 20-year history of Petco Park. The previous three-game series record of 133,856, set in April 2022, was also against the Dodgers.
Trainer’s Room
Dodgers: Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani was out of the starting lineup as a precaution, according to Mr. Roberts. Ohtani left Saturday night’s game after his fourth at-bat with back tightness. Will Smith moved to DH, and reserve catcher Austin Barnes was in the lineup. Ohtani was available off the bench but did not play. ... Outfielder Jason Heyward (lower-back tightness), who is on the 10-day injured list, took batting practice Friday and Saturday. He will go on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City, Okla., where he is slated to play Monday and Tuesday.Up Next
Dodgers: Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (4–1, 2.79) will start in the opener of a three-game series in San Francisco on Monday night.Padres: Right-hander Randy Vásquez (0–1, 4.50) will take the hill for the Padres on Monday versus the visiting Colorado Rockies.
