Yu Darvish’s debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers could not have gone any better last Friday night, as he tossed seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out 10 in a win over the New York Mets.
Darvish now makes a second start with Dodgers looking to earn a series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Los Angeles has not lost a series since the beginning of June when the Washington Nationals took two out of three at Dodger Stadium.
Including his time with the Texas Rangers this season, Darvish is 7-9 with a 3.81 ERA, 3.81 FIP and 1.14 WHIP. He has struck out 158 while only walking 46 in 144 innings of work.
The soon-to-be 31-year-old has faced Arizona twice in his career, giving up 12 hits and four runs in 14.2 innings (2.45 ERA), while striking out an astounding 28 batters without issuing a walk.
Diamondbacks star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has yet to put the ball in play against Darvish, striking out in all three of his plate appearance. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks’ big trade deadline acquisition J.D. Martinez is 1-for-9 with five strikeouts.
Opposing Darvish is young left-hander Anthony Banda. The 24-year-old is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA, 3.48 FIP and 1.20 WHIP in two starts with Arizona this season, which are the only two outings of his Major League career.
Banda’s last start came on Aug. 4 against the San Francisco Giants, when he permitted three hits, a walk and one run in six innings while striking out seven to earn his first career win.
In 19 starts with Triple-A Reno this season, Banda went 7-6 with a 5.13 ERA and 1.41 WHIP while striking out 100 and walking 44 in 107 innings of work.
Dodgers rookie sensation Cody Bellinger hit his 33rd home run of the season in Wednesday night’s win, putting him just two shy from tying Mike Piazza’s National League rookie record. Since Bellinger’s call up on April 25 the Dodgers are 71-22.
Joc Pederson broke out of a slump in a big way during the middle game of the series when he hit a two-out double off former teammate Zack Greinke to pull the Dodgers even with the Diamondbacks. Pederson hadn’t had a hit since July 28, going 0-for-23 in that span.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Chris Taylor
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Cody Bellinger
2B: Logan Forsythe
RF: Kiké Hernandez
C: Austin Barnes
CF: Joc Pederson
P: Yu Darvish
Diamondbacks lineup:
LF: David Peralta
CF: A.J. Pollock
3B: Jake Lamb
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
RF: J.D. Martinez
2B: Daniel Descalso
C: Chris Ianetta
SS: Ketel Marte
P: Anthony Banda
