Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani said Thursday his team has to adjust to “crafty” San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish in the winner-take-all Game 5 of their National League Division Series.
“He’s a really good pitcher and pitched well against us (in Game 2),” Ohtani told a press conference at Dodger Stadium. “He doesn’t rely on one plan. He commands and mixes all of his pitches well. We have to be able to adjust.”
The Dodgers won Wednesday’s Game 4 in San Diego to send the series back to Los Angeles.
Darvish is scheduled to start Friday’s Game 5 against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who became the highest-paid pitcher in Major League Baseball history when he joined the Dodgers on a 12-year, $325-million deal last offseason.
“Playing a regular-season game and playing a playoff game is different,” Ohtani said. “I think a lot of players are showing their emotions, so I feel like I’m part of that. I’m really focused on winning the game and doing whatever I can to win.”
Ohtani, the first player ever to have a 50-homer, 50-steal season, has hit .250 (4-for-16) with a home run and four RBIs in four games so far in the first postseason of his MLB career.
Darvish said he would tailor his plan of attack after getting a feel for his opponents from the mound.
“My style is to go on the mound, looking at how the hitters are reacting, and then go about what I’m going to do,” he said.
“And I’ve always been like that, so I don’t necessarily have a concrete plan right now, but tomorrow, you know, that’s kind of what I’m looking to do.”
Although Darvish won Game 2 of this series, his career postseason record is not satisfactory for him, going 5-6 with a 3.88 ERA in 12 starts.
In Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, Darvish, then with the Dodgers, gave up five runs, four earned, in just 1-2/3 innings in a 5-1 loss to the Houston Astros.
“I feel calm right now,” the 38-year-old veteran said. “Maybe it is the experience I have accumulated up until today.”
As for his matchup against Yamamoto, the first between Japanese starting pitchers in an MLB playoff game, Darvish said, “It’s a great thing that we’re able to go at it with each other in Game 5 of an NLDS.”
“At a personal level, I’m really good friends with him,” he said. “And just for us to be able to go out there and pitch on the same day, a playoff game, I think it means a lot.”
