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San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers Set For Interesting Battle in Game 2 of NLDS

The San Diego Padres will deploy Yu Darvish on the mound against Los Angeles Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty in Game 2 of a National League Divisional Series on Sunday.

Teren Kowatsch

San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish throws during a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sept. 27 at Chase Field.
San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish throws during a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sept. 27 at Chase Field. / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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Game 1 of a National League Divisional Series between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers lived up to its main event billing on a day full of Divisional Series games on Saturday.

After the Padres broke out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, Shohei Ohtani brought the Dodgers even with a three-run home run. San Diego fought back to take a 5-3 lead and Los Angeles scored four unanswered runs to win 7-5 and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five NLDS.

The two sides will play Game 2 of the NLDS on Sunday. If the Padres win, then they will head home to Petco Park for Game 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday with an opportunity to win the series in front of their home crowd. If the Dodgers win, then San Diego will be one game away from elimination and could see its World Series dreams dashed in front of its hometown fans.

Every game has major implications, and the two National League West rivals will have two top-tier pitchers on the mound that reflect the stakes.

Yu Darvish will get the start for the Padres and Jack Flaherty will start for Los Angeles.

Darvish had a 3.31 ERA in 16 starts this season with 78 strikeouts in 81.2 innings pitched. He will be making his 12th career postseason start. He has a 4.19 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 58 innings pitched in his previous 11 playoff outings.

Flaherty has a 3.17 ERA this season in 28 starts with 194 strikeouts in 162 innings pitched. Flaherty will make his sixth postseason appearance (fifth start). He has a 3.60 ERA in his previous five outings with 31 strikeouts in 25 innings pitched.

San Diego had Dylan Cease on the mound on Saturday and the Dodgers started Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Neither pitcher did particularly well and the back-and-forth game was a result of that.

Both teams will hope that their starters on Sunday can do a better job at stifling the potent offenses.

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Teren Kowatsch
TEREN KOWATSCH

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