Padres Preview: Yu Darvish Resumes Quest for 200th Win in Atlanta

At Yu Darvish quest for his 200^th the victory resumes on Sunday, in front of a national television audience.

While it rained on Saturday, the 37-year-old veteran now takes the mound during ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast against the Atlanta Braves (4:10 p.m.). He is seeking to become the third pitcher of Japanese descent to win 200 games in the Nippon Professional Baseball split.

Only Hiroki Kuroda (203) and Hideo Nomo (201) have more combined wins than Darvish (199), but he will be the only pitcher to accomplish the feat strictly as a starting pitcher.

Darvish has won 93 games in seven years in Japan (1.99 ERA) and has 106 major tournament wins (3.56 ERA).

Darvish (3-1, 2.43 ERA) is also riding a career-tying streak of 18 consecutive scoreless innings.

He last allowed a run in the fourth inning of his start at Dodger Stadium on April 14.

He then landed injured with a slight neck strain, missed two rounds in the rotation and has since shut out the Reds (5 IP), Cubs (5 IP) and Dodgers (7 IP).

In three starts since being removed from the injured list, Darvish has struck out 15, walked two and scattered eight hits, holding opponents to a .136/.164/ batting line. .170.

Darvish has a 5.30 ERA in seven career starts (35⅔ IP) against the Braves, but he hasn’t faced them since allowing six runs in his two starts (12⅓ IP) against them in 2022.

Here’s how Darvish fared against the current Braves, including a bit of slug allowed at Saturday’s DH in Marcell Ozuna:

The lineup behind Darvish matches the one written for Saturday’s rainout, with a third baseman Manny Machado hitting fifth again behind the second baseman Luis Arraezright fielder Fernando Tatis Jr.left fielder Jurickson Profar and first baseman Jake Cronenworth.

With Arraez on the ground, Alexandre Bogaerts will serve as DH and sixth bat.

Luis Campusano is back in the lineup and batting eighth after giving way to Kyle Higashioka to catch Waldron on Friday.

Arraez is riding a 22-game hitting streak (.340/.367/.404) that dates back to his days with the Marlins.

Friday’s victory was the 19th^th period in franchise history in which the Padres collected at least 13 hits without any of them going for extra bases. This was the first time this had happened since April 29, 2010 against the Brewers.

Machado was the only starter in Friday’s lineup without a hit of any kind, although he went 0 for 4 with an RBI and a walk.

Machado has managed just three extra-base hits in 18 games since returning from paternity leave, a stretch that has seen him post a .157/.203/.229 batting line while walking 18 times against four walks.

The 24-year-old (1-1, 4.79 ERA) won 12 games as an All-Star last year, but was optioned to the minors to start the year. He struck out 16 against eight walks in 20⅔ innings since returning to the rotation last month. Elder lost to the Padres as a 2022 rookie, allowing two runs in 4⅓ innings.

Only five Padres have a history with Elder.

• Arraez (3 for 12, HR, RBI)
• Profar (0-for-5, K)
• Cronenworth (0-for-2, RBI, BB)
• Machado (0-for-3)
• SS Ha Seong Kim (1 for 2, BB)

This is how the Braves, still without Austin Riley (lateral tightness), will line up behind Elder on Sunday: