Darvish (back) exits early, Diamondbacks beat Padres 12-3

By DAVID BRANDT
AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX (AP) — Yu Darvish left a rocky start early with lower back tightness, and the Arizona Diamondbacks took advantage to beat the San Diego Padres 12-3. Pavin Smith had four RBIs and Caleb Smith pitched 5 1/3 quality innings of relief for the last-place Diamondbacks. Darvish exited in the third. The right-hander didn’t look comfortable on the mound and was pulled after throwing a ball in the dirt to Josh VanMeter. Darvish gave up five runs on six hits and a walk through 2 2/3 innings. He struck out four and threw 74 pitches. San Diego holds the second NL wild-card spot and sits third in the NL West, nine games behind first-place San Francisco.