1st in MLB History, two starting Asian pitchers in Playoff game: Yoshinobu Yamamoto out-duels Yu Darvish 2-0. Ohtani and Dodgers to meet Kodai Senga in Game 1 of NLCS

Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw five scoreless innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-0 win over the San Diego Padres in a do-or-die Game 5 of their National League Division Series on Friday featuring a historic pitching duel with Japanese compatriot Yu Darvish.

With a place in the NL Championship Series at stake, it was the first Major League Baseball playoff game featuring two starting pitchers from Japan.

Yamamoto (1-0) allowed just two hits and a walk against two strikeouts in an efficient 63-pitch outing at Dodger Stadium as he earned redemption against the lineup that knocked him out after a single inning in his MLB debut seven months ago in Seoul.

Darvish (1-1) fanned four against three hits and a walk, but gave up solo home runs to Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez in his 6-2/3 inning start.

The 38-year-old right-hander got the better of superstar Shohei Ohtani, who idolized Darvish growing up, striking him out twice and getting him to fly out.

 

Kike Hernandez cleared the fence behind left center field off his first pitch from Darvish, a fastball over the inside corner of the plate, with two out in the bottom of the second inning.

Darvish shook off the early blemish and pitched solidly until Teoscar Hernandez made it 2-0 with his one-out blast to left field in the seventh.

Yamamoto set the tone with a 1-2-3 first inning before running into trouble in the form of a two-on, one-out jam in the third that he escaped by getting Fernando Tatis Jr. to ground into a double play.

While the former Orix Buffaloes ace made strong headway in his rookie MLB campaign after the nightmare season-opener in Seoul, he had continued to struggle against the Padres, including an early NLDS Game 1 exit, until his elimination-game heroics.

“I’m really happy that I was able to do my job and help the team win. I was able to locate my pitches well inside the strike zone from the first inning,” said Yamamoto, who combined with four relievers on the shutout.

“On a personal note, I’m happy I was able to pitch at the same time (as Yu Darvish) in such a big game.”

Ohtani went 0-for-4 to end a maiden MLB playoff series in which he has made a handful of key contributions but otherwise been kept quieter than in the regular season.

“Yoshinobu pitched great. The bullpen was also great. It was a low-scoring game, but we all won it together,” Ohtani said.

The Dodgers will battle the New York Mets in the NLCS starting Sunday in Los Angeles.