The day before scaling the same mound on which he endured the worst night of his career, Yu Darvish visited the interview room at Dodger Stadium.
While a reporter was in the middle of asking a question, the San Diego Padres right-hander said in Japanese to no one in particular, “It’s a sayonara.”
Darvish’s eyes were fixed on a television that hung on the wall to his right, which showed Yordan Alvarez circling the bases and the Houston Astros celebrating their walk-off victory over the Seattle Mariners.
The ghosts of Darvish’s past were everywhere.
Darvish has never downplayed his history here. He has acknowledged how losing Game 7 of the 2017 World Series for the Dodgers against the sign-stealing Astros affected him, how recovering from that disappointment strengthened him to be the kind of competitor worthy of leading the pitching staff of a team with championship aspirations.
Looking ahead to his start the next day, Darvish said, “I think I will be able to show a different image of myself.”
He was right.
Wednesday night, Darvish defeated his former team in Game 2 of their National League Division Series, leading the Padres to a 5-3 victory that leveled the best-of-five series 1-1.
Darvish wasn’t the same pitcher who was embarrassed here by the Astros five years earlier.
As was the case in that World Series game, Darvish had problems early. Only this time, he didn’t break. Only this time, he pitched into the sixth inning. Only this time, he gave his team a chance to win.
Darvish gave up a solo home run in each of the first three innings. He failed to complete at least six innings for the first time in 25 starts. But no matter. This counted as a triumphant return to Dodger Stadium.
Clayton Kershaw’s performance was comparable to Darvish’s. Kershaw recorded 15 outs, the same number as his former teammate and occasional offseason throwing partner. This game also marked a comeback of sorts for Kershaw, who was sidelined for the postseason last year because of arm problems.
But his team lost.
Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw jumps after allowing a run-scoring double to San Diego’s Manny Machado during the third inning Wednesday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Charged with three runs and six hits, Kershaw was removed after five laborious innings with the score tied 3-3. His early departure, which followed a start of the same length the previous day by Julio Urías, further strained the bullpen. Brusdar Graterol gave up a run in the sixth inning, Blake Treinen gave up another in the eighth, and that was the game.
This wasn’t the return to October baseball that Kershaw envisioned.
“I definitely had some traffic all day,” Kershaw said. “Could have been a lot worse, for sure. I had to pitch out of jams basically every inning.”
Darvish has credited Kershaw with helping him regroup after his crushing World Series experience. He knew how desperate Kershaw was to win a championship and appreciated how Kershaw never held his failure against him. The two All-Star pitchers lived near each other in suburban Dallas and were throwing partners that winter and the next.
By then, Darvish had already developed an intense admiration for Kershaw. Darvish spent half a season with the Dodgers after he was acquired by them before the 2017 trade deadline.
“The day before my starts, I often do dry work in the bullpen,” Darvish said. “Kershaw is the one who taught me that.”
He also marveled at how Kershaw held himself accountable.
“On the days of his starts, he gets really into it,” Darvish said. “He doesn’t speak to anyone. Watching the way he cornered himself, I could feel how much he put on himself when he pitched.”
The sense of responsibility as a team’s No. 1 pitcher is something Darvish has gradually learned to accept in his years since leaving the Dodgers.
He spent three years with the Chicago Cubs, who traded him to the upstart Padres before last season.
In each of his two seasons with the Padres, Darvish was the team’s opening-day starter. He was also their Game 1 starter of their wild-card series against the New York Mets last weekend. He won that game too.
The day before his most recent start, Darvish said he was confident he wouldn’t be affected by the raucous Dodger Stadium crowd.
“It’s not as if I’m going to get punched,” he said. “It’s not as if something is going to be done to me. Similar to a thought, sound matters only if I think it does. If I don’t let it bother me, it won’t.”
It didn’t.
And why would it? He wasn’t the same person he was the last time he was on the mound here for a postseason game.
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