Tarik Skubal fuels Dodgers playoff hopes with domination of Giants
SAN FRANCISCO –– In his final tune-up of the regular season, Tarik Skubal looked like a well-oiled machine.After looking good, but not often great, in his first couple months with the Dodgers, the team’s marquee trade deadline acquisition tapped back into his two-time Cy Young-winning form on Friday night, carving up the San Francisco Giants in a 2-0 win that could portend big things in the playoffs.During his scoreless seven-inning start, Skubal struck out 10 batters and allowed just three hits.He didn’t issue a walk.
He hardly even looked stressed during an uber-efficient 75-pitch domination.In his entire MLB career, the only time he posted a better stat line might have been in his lone complete-game shutout last year against the Cleveland Guardians.The Dodgers, of course, didn’t need proof of such excellence from Skubal.When they acquired him from the Tigers two months ago, they knew they had landed the one player available at this year’s deadline capable of significantly boosting their World Series odds.Still, the left-hander’s acclimation process wasn’t exactly seamless.
He didn’t record a scoreless outing until two weeks ago in Cincinnati, when he blanked the Reds over seven innings with nine strikeouts and only three hits allowed.And even then, he turned right back around and allowed four runs in five innings against the Giants his last time –– before spending a few days earlier this week away from the team on the bereavement list.Friday’s rematch at Oracle Park followed an entirely different script.Skubal was handed a 2-0 lead in the second, after Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages hit a pair of home runs in a three-batter sequence (for Pages, it was his first long ball since returning from a fractured hand last week).And from there, the 29-year-old Northern California native never looked back, pounding the Giants with a steady diet of fastballs and changeups to finish the year with a 12-7 record and 2.72 ERA overall (including a 5-...