LOS ANGELES — Yu Darvish has made four appearances at Dodger Stadium since he last pitched for the Dodgers. The first three were typical of Darvish: lots of strikeouts and not a lot of hard hits allowed. The fourth, on Saturday, went a lot like Game 7 of the 2017 World Series did for the 35-year-old right-hander.
By the end of one inning, the Dodgers had hit three home runs and just missed another. By the time Darvish left the game, the San Diego Padres were trailing by five runs. The Dodgers’ 7-2 win was deja vu for the announced crowd of 47,061.
Freddie Freeman and Will Smith hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the span of three pitches. The next batter, Max Muncy, turned on a first-pitch cutter and flew out to the warning track in right-center field. Justin Turner then struck an 0-and-1 fastball into the short section of seats in left field, his third home run in three days.
