New York – Yu Darvish pitched seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball to earn his first win of the season and first with the San Diego Padres in a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
In his third start of the season, Darvish (1-0), who had a no-decision in his previous two outings, struck out six and walked one in a 95-pitch effort. His only run allowed came on a Phillip Evans double in the third, which tied the game at a run apiece.
"Staying in the game for as long as possible was more important to me than getting a win," Darvish said.
"I tried to get outs efficiently by forcing the batters to make contact until the third or fourth inning, then when I found my pace I went for strikeouts."
Wil Myers went 3-for-5 with five RBIs, including a two-run homer off 21-year-old reliever Luis Oviedo (0-1) to break a tie in the sixth inning. Myers also hit a run-scoring single to give the Padres a 1-0 lead in the first and added a two-run single in the seventh.
Darvish was sent from the Chicago Cubs to San Diego in a multi-player trade in late December. The 34-year-old Japanese right-hander was exceptional for the Cubs in 2020, his performances seeing him finish second in voting for the National League Cy Young Award.
At Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, Shohei Ohtani finished the day 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and three RBIs, leading a 14-hit attack for the Los Angeles Angels as they beat the Kansas City Royals 10-3.
Ohtani singled in the first, grounded into a double play in the third, reached on a fielding error by shortstop Nicky Lopez in the fifth and hit a two-run double and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh in his first four at-bats.
"(With runners on second and third in the seventh) All I had to do was get a hit and bring home both runners," Ohtani said.
"Without using the lower body and creating power in your swing, you can't get that kind of hit," the left-handed batter said of his two-run double to the right-field corner on a 95-mile-per-hour sinker from Royals right-hander Scott Barlow.
In the ninth, Ohtani doubled in David Fletcher, and then came in to score on a Mike Trout home run. It was Ohtani's first three-hit game of 2021.
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