The San Diego Padres (75-62) enter today’s action a whopping 19 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. Easily the furthest back of any second-place team in the Major Leagues, with the Seattle Mariners (10 games) facing the next largest deficit.
That’s the beauty of the wild card. The Pads are tied for the second wild card spot (with the Philadelphia Phillies), three games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers.
With last night’s walk-off loss to the Padres, the D-Backs (65-70) are nine games back of their division rival and resigned to playing the September spoiler role.
Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Diego Padres | 8:30 p.m. ET | FS1Padres -215 | Diamondbacks +180 @ FanDuel
Total: 8 OVER -112 | UNDER -108
Run Line (1.5): Diamondbacks +114 | Padres -105
Taking the hill for the Padres is Yu Darvish, who is having his best full season (Darvish was brilliant in 12 starts in 2020) since he was a rising star with the Texas Rangers eight years ago.
- 12 Wins – 12th in MLB (leads team)
- 3.26 ERA- 26th in MLB
- 162 Ks – 14th in MLB (leads team)
- 0.97 WHIP – 7th in MLB (leads team)
Darvish is coming off arguably his best start of the season with seven shutout innings against the Dodgers on two hits (nine strikeouts). That snapped a streak of three-straight starts allowing at least three runs and six-straight giving up multiple runs.
Both are the longest such streaks of the season, as his ERA for August tipped over 4.00 (4.05). Even with some struggles, Darvish has continued to be a workhorse, at least in 2022 terms. The Osaka native has gone at least six innings in 18 consecutive starts, dating back to May 13 when he went 5.2 innings in a win over Atlanta.
Yu Darvish vs. Arizona DiamondbacksThe hard-throwing right-hander has fared well against the Arizona Diamondbacks, including in three starts this season:
- 2-0 record | 1.80 ERA in 2022
- .132 batting average against in 2022
He’s shutdown two key Arizona bats, Josh Rojas and Daulton Varsho, throughout their careers:
- Rojas: .077 BA & 5 Ks in 13 ABs
- Varsho: .133 BA & slugging in 15 ABs
Two Diamondbacks who have handled Darvish well are big bopper Christian Walker (32 HRs) and infielder Ketel Marte:
- Walker: .911 OPS, 2 HRs, 5 RBI in 22 ABs
- Marte: .409 BA, 1.162 OPS, 2 HRs in 22 ABs
