Yu Darvish becomes first Japan-born player to reach 2000 strikeouts in MLB.
Yu Darvish became the first Japanese pitcher to record 2,000 MLB strikeouts while helping the San Diego Padres move closer to clinching a playoff berth.
Darvish reached the milestone by striking out Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr. to end the third inning of the Padres’ 4-2 win at home on Sunday.
“That’s a heck of a milestone,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Two thousand major league strikeouts, over 3,100 I think for his combined professional career. That’s really impressive. It’s a big number, 2,000 for your career in Major League Baseball, and it’s rarefied air.”
The Padres were looking to clinch a playoff berth on Sunday but were forced to wait because of results in other games.
Darvish is in his 13th season in North America and has played for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and the Padres. He has four seasons with at least 200 strikeouts and nearly got there in 2021 and 2022, finishing with 199 and 197, respectively.
He spent the first seven years of his professional career in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. The right-hander was one of Japan’s elite pitchers during his time in NPB, where he compiled 1,250 strikeouts. Darvish had four 200-strikeout campaigns in Japan, despite making fewer appearances per year than in MLB.
Darvish helped the Fighters win a pair of Pacific League pennants and the 2006 Japan Series. He won the Sawamura Award as Japan’s top pitcher in 2007 and was the Pacific League MVP in 2007 and 2009.
Darvish did not factor into the decision against the White Sox, but struck out nine during his outing, allowing a pair of runs on three hits in 6⅓ innings. Darvish is 6-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 76⅓ innings this season after missing time due to a neck injury, a groin strain and a lengthy stint on the restricted list to deal with a personal matter.
“He’s been great,” Shildt said. “He wanted to go out and get a little bit of that seventh (inning) and continue to get built up a little bit. So we let him have the righty, and he rewarded it. I thought he was fantastic.”
The White Sox fell to 36-120 with the loss to match the modern MLB record for futility in a single season. The 1962 New York Mets are the only other team to lose 120 games since 1900. Chicago will need to end its season with a six-game win streak to avoid taking sole possession of the mark.
San Diego resumes its bid to clinch a playoff spot on Tuesday but has a bigger prize in its sights.
The Padres are heading into a three-game road series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the red-hot Shohei Ohtani, and can move into first place in the NL West division with a sweep. San Diego is three games back in the race and holds the tiebreaker over the Dodgers.
The Dodgers earned a dramatic win on Sunday, with Ohtani and Mookie Betts hitting back-to-back solo home runs in the ninth inning for a 6-5 walk-off win over the Colorado Rockies.
Ohtani also added to his historic 50-50 season with a pair of stolen bases. The NL MVP favorite has 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases in 2024. The Japanese star is batting .301.
