Darvish tames Ohtani, Dodgers

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Yu Darvish put on a pitching masterclass to shut down Shohei Ohtani as the San Diego Padres thrashed the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-2, to claim an emphatic series-leveling victory on Sunday.

Japanese pitcher Darvish got rid of Dodgers superstar Ohtani three times for no hits in a gem of a display at Dodger Stadium that leaves the Padres in control of the best-of-five National League Division Series.

Darvish, who spent a season with the Dodgers in 2017, completely dominated the Los Angeles club’s vaunted offense through seven innings, conceding just three hits for one run.

The Padres bats, meanwhile, went to town on the Dodgers pitching.

Fernando Tatis Jr. set the tone in the first inning, slamming a home run off Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty before David Peralta added a two-run homer in the second inning.

‘Unbelievable.’

Jackson Merrill’s single scored Tatis to make it 4-1 in the sixth inning. Merrill then bludgeoned a two-run homer in the eighth inning before Xander Bogaerts blasted an insurance run to take the score to 7-1.

Kyle Higashioka and Tatis then put the seal on the win in the ninth inning, smashing solo home runs as the Padres bats continued to dominate.

“There was a lot of emotion but we controlled those emotions and we took care of business today,” two-homer hero Tatis said afterwards.

“If we keep showing up like this, there’s no limit for us.”

Tensions flared in the bottom of the seventh inning as Dodgers fans threw trash onto the outfield, holding up play for several minutes as security intervened.

“It’s a show, and people got a little bit upset because our team went up,” Tatis said.

“But this is the playoffs, and this is the environment we’re built for. I enjoy every single bit of it.”

The win leaves the Padres in pole position to claim victory as the best-of-five series heads to San Diego for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In other playoff action on Sunday, Nick Castellanos was the hero as the Philadelphia Phillies bagged a thrilling 7-6 walkoff victory over the New York Mets.

Castellanos’s line drive to left field sent shortstop Trea Turner racing over home plate for the winning run in the final act of another epic duel between the two National League divisional rivals at Citizens Bank Park.

“Unbelievable,” Castellanos said.

“It was incredible. The series is even, but there’s a lot of baseball left. We have to turn the page and get focused on game three as quickly as possible.”