Japanese ace Yu Darvish dazzled in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut on Friday, throwing seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in a 6-0 victory over the New York Mets.
The 30-year-old right-hander from Osaka picked up his seventh win of the year and first since being acquired on Monday from the Texas Rangers on the trading deadline.
The Dodgers, who improved to 77-32 on the season, gave up three prospects to get Darvish, who allowed just three hits and one walk.
Photo: AFP
It marked the first win for Darvish since June 12. He was 0-5 with a 5.81 eaned-run average in his final eight starts for the Rangers.
Darvish became the first Dodger with 10 strikeouts in his debut since his fellow Japanese Kaz Ishii in 2002.
“It is not just about being a Dodger in my first outing,” Darvish said. “I gave up 10 runs in my last outing. I was a little concerned about that. I didn’t want to pitch bad in my first outing.”
Darvish received the only support he would need when Chris Taylor homered leading off the first against Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom at Citi Field in New York. Yasiel Puig homered in the second and Justin Turner drove in a run in the fifth.
The Dodgers won for the 42nd time in their last 49 games dating to June 7. The Mets lost for the fifth time in six games.
Chase Utley blasted a two-run home run for the Dodgers. He was booed loudly before every at-bat by fans who remember from his years with the Philadelphia Phillies, when he broke the leg of shortstop Ruben Tejada with a hard slide into second base during the 2015 National League playoffs.
The blast was his 39th regular-season homer against the Mets, most of any active player.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Nationals 4, Cubs 2
‧ Indians 7, Yankees 2
‧ Red Sox 3, White Sox 2
‧ Astros 16, Blue Jays 7
‧ Twins 8, Rangers 4
‧ Rockies 4, Phillies 3
‧ Diamondbacks 2, Giants 1
‧ Mariners 5, Royals 2
‧ Angels 8, Athletics 6
‧ Reds 3, Cardinals 2
‧ Tigers 5, Orioles 2
‧ Pirates 10, Padres 6
‧ Brewers 2, Rays 0
‧ Braves 5, Marlins 3
‧ Twins 8, Rangers 4
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