SAN DIEGO -- Two days shy of his thirty seventh birthday, Yu Darvish simply retains piling up milestones and accomplishments. His newest was an enormous one.

With his sixth-inning strikeout of Baltimore’s Ramón Urías within the Padres’ 4-1 loss on Monday night time at Petco Park, Darvish turned the all-time MLB strikeout chief amongst pitchers born in Japan.

Darvish's sixth and remaining strikeout of the night time was the 1,919th of his profession, transferring him previous legendary right-hander Hideo Nomo and into sole possession of first place. Coincidentally, Nomo can be employed by the Padres, as an adviser within the baseball operations division, and he was readily available Monday to witness the accomplishment.

“I remember watching him on television when I was a kid, and we all know how great of a pitcher he is,” Darvish stated via Japanese interpreter Shingo Horie. “So just being able to be in his league, it means a lot.”

Darvish and Nomo already occupied a particular place in baseball historical past as the one two pitchers to report 3,000 skilled strikeouts with a minimum of 1,000 apiece in MLB and Japan. Since Darvish’s arrival in San Diego, he has gotten to know Nomo effectively, with the 2 going out to dinner through the offseason and speaking pitching when Nomo is across the staff, significantly throughout Spring Training.

“Two absolutely fantastic pitchers, trailblazers for what they do,” stated Padres supervisor Bob Melvin. “Continued to do it for a long period of time, both over there and here. Probably the two best Japanese pitchers of all time.”

Despite the milestone, Darvish’s efforts weren’t sufficient, as San Diego misplaced for the seventh time in eight video games. The loss dropped the Padres 6 1/2 video games again within the National League Wild Card race, their slim playoff hopes getting slimmer with every disheartening defeat.

Darvish was largely stable, however he was undone by a tough fifth inning wherein he loaded the bases with one out. From there, Darvish’s first pitch to Gunnar Henderson was a curveball on the surface nook on the knees. But Henderson slapped it to the alternative subject for a bases-clearing double. The Orioles led, 4-0.

“Give their guy credit for staying inside it and hitting it down the left-field line,” Melvin stated. “It wasn’t hit particularly hard. It was placed well, and that was basically, other than the homer, all he gave up. … The line probably doesn’t suggest how well he pitched.” 

The solely different run Darvish allowed got here on Ryan O’Hearn’s second-inning homer that hardly crept into Petco Park’s brief right-field porch. But the Padres couldn’t muster a lot offense in opposition to Baltimore rookie Grayson Rodriguez, with their lone run scoring on Garrett Cooper’s first Padres homer, chopping the deficit to 3 within the sixth.

The Padres acquired no nearer. Nine days in the past, they sat one win from .500, having minimize their deficit within the Wild Card race to 3 video games -- the bottom that quantity had been since mid-June. Since then, they're 1-7 and sit seven video games under .500, one recreation shy of their low-water mark for the season. 

“We were right on the verge of really being in a really good place when we went on the road,” Melvin stated. “But we came back in a tough spot, then we have a really good team that just played better than we did tonight.”

The greatest remaining supply of optimism for the Padres is their schedule and the alternatives it should afford them. With 43 video games remaining, they've seven in opposition to the Giants, 4 in opposition to the D-backs and three apiece in opposition to the Phillies, Marlins and Brewers -- all groups the Padres are attempting to leapfrog for a Wild Card spot.

Meanwhile, Michael Wacha is about to return from a shoulder damage to begin on Tuesday, although it’s unclear simply how deep he’ll be capable to go. To that finish, Darvish’s effort Monday might show helpful. It marked the third consecutive begin wherein he required fewer than 90 pitches to work a minimum of six innings.

“I thought Darvish was really good, really keeping us off-balance,” stated Orioles supervisor Brandon Hyde. “You never know what he's going to throw; he can throw anything in any count.”

Darvish might not have been at his dominant finest on Monday. Yet he managed to work seven innings, saving the bullpen for what is perhaps a heavier workload on Tuesday. 

And within the course of, he made a little bit of intercontinental baseball historical past.

Content Source: www.mlb.com