Yu Darvish earned his 180th career win as he pitched San Diego Padres to a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.

The win was his eighth of the season and 87th in MLB. Prior to that, Darvish won 93 games in Japan's major leagues for the Pacific League's Nippon Ham Fighters.

"That (180 wins) is a big number and brings back a number of memories," said Darvish, who struck out nine.

"When I had two strikes on hitters, I tried more to throw it in places where I could get outs rather than just going for swinging strikes."

Yu Darvish of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a baseball game at Petco Park in San Diego, California, on July 15, 2022. (Kyodo)

A month shy of his 36th birthday, Darvish (8-4) surrendered five hits and two walks for the Padres at Petco Park. After opening the game with back-to-back strikeouts, Darvish surrendered Ketel Marte's eighth home run.

With a 5-1 fourth-inning lead, Darvish allowed his second homer, Christian Walker's 22nd of the season, with a man on.

The Padres got Darvish the lead in the second, starting with a two-run double by his catcher, Austin Nola, off Madison Bumgarner (5-9).

Darvish pitched out of a two-on two-out jam in the sixth and left after a 1-2-3 seventh inning, finishing with a strikeout on his 114th pitch of the game.

Nick Martinez, who won nine games last season for the PL's SoftBank Hawks in Japan and started the Tokyo Olympic gold medal game for the United States, pitched a scoreless eighth for the Padres before Taylor Rodgers recorded his 25th save.


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