PHILADELPHIA -- Prior to Friday night's game, the last time the Padres and Phillies had met was Game 5 of the 2022 National League Championship Series on Oct. 23, with Philadelphia taking home the win to advance to the World Series against the Astros.

Almost nine months later, the two teams hooked up in a regular season series starting Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, with the Padres’ Yu Darvish dominating in an 8-3 victory.

Darvish had struggled before the All-Star break, allowing 17 earned runs in his last 21 1/3 innings. It didn’t help that he was recovering from a virus and losing weight before the first half ended. But he felt much better on Friday, and a fresh start to the second half gave Darvish his first victory since June 9 against the Rockies.

He pitched six strong innings against Philadelphia, allowing one run on five hits and two walks while striking out nine batters, stymying the Phillies with his curveball. It’s a pitch that he stopped using after he underwent Tommy John surgery while with the Rangers in 2014, but he brought the pitch back in his start against the Giants on June 21.

“Stamina-wise, I was all good today. So it was good to go out there and be myself,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie. “That’s the curveball that I liked to use for left-handed hitters. Ever since I had the Tommy John surgery, it kind of went away from me for a while. But since we played the Giants a couple of weeks back, the pitch started to come back. That’s why I’m throwing it.”         

Manager Bob Melvin noticed a difference in Darvish against the Phillies. 

“He’s healthier,” the skipper said.”He’s gained some of his weight back. He had a good couple of innings. I think six was enough. That’s the Yu Darvish that we’re used to seeing.”

Darvish’s only blemish came in the fourth inning, when he allowed a two-out double to Alec Bohm, scoring Bryson Stott. Darvish bounced back and retired seven of the last eight hitters he faced before leaving the game.

The Padres’ hitters poured it on for Darvish starting in the third inning, with a pair of long balls off left-hander Cristopher Sánchez. Leading off the inning, catcher Gary Sánchez gave San Diego a 1-0 lead with a homer over the left-field wall. Later in the inning, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a monster two-run blast that landed in the second deck in left field.

Three innings later, with right-hander Jeff Hoffman on the mound, Manny Machado hit his 16th home run of the season -- a solo shot -- over the left-field wall.

San Diego then added two more runs in the seventh against reliever Andrew Vasquez, with Brandon Dixon and Ha-Seong Kim knocking RBI singles. Juan Soto kept the party going in the ninth, slugging a two-run homer, his 16th of the year, 434 feet to straightaway center.

“The offense is something we’re going to need,” Melvin said. “We needed it there in the end. … Manny is stepping up now with some home runs in a place where guys like to hit. We had some early runs, and added some more late. The offense seems to be doing pretty well [since] the break.”

Getting the last three outs of the game wasn’t easy. Reliever Luis García faced six hitters, but he could only get one out and gave up two runs, forcing Melvin to go to his closer, Josh Hader. Hader struck out Trea Turner, then induced Nick Castellanos to fly out to Tatis in right field to end the game.  

“There were some fastballs up in the zone you don’t normally see,” Melvin said about García. “We’ve seen him pitch some really good games for us recently, and he had a little tough spot today.”

With the victory, the Padres have won six out of their last seven games and improved their record to 44-47, six games behind the Giants for the third and final Wild Card spot.