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Roberto Carlo/ALOST

akoiki-passport2 – by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief

NEW YORK — From the fact that he had not recorded a postseason win in five years — including being shelled while on the mound with a chance to win his team a World Series championship — to the cacophony that was Citi Field on Friday night, San Diego Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish wanted to block out the noise surrounding the biggest start he has had in a half a decade.

Fittingly enough, Darvish decided to literally block out all those distractions, tangible and otherwise, by using noise-cancelling headphones not too long before he took the mound in front of a rabid, championship-starved fan base that saw its team produce its most wins since its last taste of championship glory 36 years ago.

From cancelling yells and screams and the blaring music from a live DJ at the park, Darvish soon went about silencing the New York Mets bats once more, helping him and his team move one step closer to putting painful postseason memories in the past behind them.

Darvish tossed seven stellar innings, allowing just one run on six hits, in leading the Padres to a 7-1 victory over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the 2022 National League Wild Card Round, a best-of-three series that San Diego now leads 1-0. The Padres’ bats teed off on another pitching ace, New York’s Max Scherzer, by launching four home runs, including a three-run shot by leadoff hitter Jurickson Profar that put an early end to the Mets’ first playoff game in four years.

*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday evening’s contest, with photos taken by ALOST photographer Roberto Carlo. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 12 pictures in total.

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Tags : MLBMLB PostseasonNew York MetsSan Diego PadresYu Darvish

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