Padres' Yu Darvish Reveals How he Shut Down Shohei Ohtani in Win Over Dodgers

Darvish dominated Ohtani on Sunday.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

When Shohei Ohtani came to the plate in the second inning for his second at-bat on Saturday during Game 1 of the National League Division Series — Ohtani's first-ever postseason appearance — the San Diego Padres led the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0.

Ohtani erased that lead, blasting a three-run home run off the pitch from Dylan Cease. The home run tied the game, and ultimately helped the Dodgers earn a 7-5 win in Game 1 of the series.

When Ohtani took his second at-bat on Sunday during the third inning of Game 2, the Dodgers similarly trailed 3-1. This time, Ohtani could not pull off the same magic he executed the night before. Instead, Ohtani grounded out to first base. The difference — pitcher Yu Darvish.

The Padres' ace impressively retired Ohtani during all three of Ohtani's plate appearances against him. Darvish used six different pitches — including four curveballs and four splitters — against Ohtani and successfully held him without a hit for the first time in 14 games.

Yu Darvish, Nasty 87mph Slider. 😨 pic.twitter.com/Vs51qYCe0R

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 7, 2024

Darvish struck out Ohtani during his first plate appearance, and then held him to two ground outs afterward.

“I was trying to see how he reacted to some of the pitches that I was throwing,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie after the game, via Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “And on top of that, I was trying to keep him off balance by holding a little bit longer, stuff like that, so that anything that you can do to keep him off balance.

“I think it worked pretty well tonight.”

Darvish also did not place too much emphasis on facing Ohtani, but rather all of the Dodgers hitters. After all, the Dodgers do have one of the best lineups in MLB. Darvish credited the lack of runners on base throughout his outing to help his performance, including against Ohtani.

“I think it was important,” Darvish said. “I felt like I had really good concentration on the mound, just going batter by batter, and just great focus. And I did get in trouble a little bit in the second inning, but other than that, I thought it was a pretty good night.”

Darvish delivered over the course of seven innings. He allowed just three hits, two walks, and only one earned run on a sacrifice fly from Gavin Lux. Darvish did get some help from the outfield — particularly Jurickson Profar, who stole a home run from Mookie Betts with his catch over the wall.

Reliever Tanner Scott followed in Darvish's footsteps and also got the best of Ohtani. Scott struck Ohtani out swinging, continuing his dominance over the two-time American League MVP.