The Los Angeles Dodgers for a third time this season struggled to solve Yu Darvish and had their three-game winning snapped against the San Diego Padres in Monday’s series opener at Petco Park.
Darvish allowed just one run on two hits and collected 11 strikeouts, reaching 1,500 for his career and becoming the first pitcher in MLB history to do so in fewer than 200 games.
In three starts against the Dodgers this year, Darvish is 2-1 with a 1.35 ERA and 0.65 WHIP over 20 innings pitched. The right-hander has offered nothing but praise for his former team this season, previously deeming them the best in baseball.
Darvish also has spoken on several occasions about his time spent with the organization during the second half of the 2017 season. While his stint was brief, he enjoyed being teammates with the likes of Justin Turner and Clayton Kershaw, among others.
Darvish specifically cited Turner’s leadership after a bitter Game 7 loss to the Houston Astros in the World Series that still stands out to him to this day, via Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times:
“I thought, ‘This person’s really a leader,’ ” Darvish said. “I thought I was really fortunate to play on a team with such a kind person.”
Ever since signing a Minor League contract with the Dodgers in 2014, Turner not only has developed into one of the best third basemen in baseball, but also an important leader in the clubhouse and beloved member of the community.
He has been lauded by many teammates, both past and present, for his tendency to give advice and provide in-game tips. It’s for those reasons why so many of Turner’s teammates pushed for his return last offseason.
Turner was a free agent and received interest from several other teams but ultimately re-signed with the Dodgers on a two-year contract that includes a team option for 2023.
Now in his age-36 season, Turner has shown no signs of slowing down, as he’s hitting a stellar .282/.373/.478 with 12 doubles, 12 home runs and 38 RBI in 67 games entering play Tuesday.
Turner proud to ‘raise bar’ for veteran players in free agency
After signing his new multi-year contract with the Dodgers, Turner spoke on how proud he was to raise the bar for older players in free agency and hopes those type of deals become more common around the league.
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