{"id":476151,"date":"2026-09-26T05:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T05:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476151\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T05:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T05:38:14","slug":"tarik-skubal-dominates-in-dodgers-shutout-victory-over-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476151\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal dominates in Dodgers’ shutout victory over Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It didn\u2019t matter that Tarik Skubal<\/a>\u2019s heater zipped across the middle of the plate, belt high to San Francisco Giants rookie Bo Davidson. The Dodgers\u2019<\/a> left-hander had been unhittable all inning, and the 100-mph fastball he reached back for to end the fourth was no exception.<\/p>\n

It was just the third time Skubal had touched 100 mph all season, and Davidson waved at the pitch, falling to the same fate as his teammates before him, as Skubal struck out the side in order.<\/p>\n

Skubal\u2019s final regular-season tuneup, in the Dodgers\u2019 2-0 win<\/a> on Friday, went swimmingly. In an efficient seven scoreless innings, Skubal threw just 75 pitches. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the shape\u2019s good, you\u2019re confident in your stuff over the zone,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cAnd then, you\u2019re getting into leverage like I was able to, and you can kind of let it go. So that\u2019s kind of a product of all that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The gem brought Skubal\u2019s regular-season ERA to 2.72, and 2.61 since the Dodgers (98-62) acquired him from the Detroit Tigers<\/a> at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the best we\u2019ve seen,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cHe was on a mission tonight. You could see it. Everything was working. He just went after those guys and did a fantastic job. Pounded the zone.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the time of the trade, his addition looked like a luxury for a team that already boasted one of the best rotations in the majors, assuming two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani<\/a> would eventually return to the mound.<\/p>\n

When he didn\u2019t, instead landing on the injured list for two weeks, Skubal\u2019s smooth transition turned what could have been a shock wave of a loss for the rotation into barely a tremor.<\/p>\n

Even without Ohtani, the Dodgers\u2019 projected postseason rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow<\/a> is still drawing comparisons to the \u201890s Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n

\"Teoscar <\/p>\n

Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez is showered in sunflower seeds after hitting a home run against the Giants in the second inning Friday.<\/p>\n

(Jeff Chiu \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Next, they\u2019ll test that association under postseason conditions. Skubal\u2019s outing Friday sent him into the first-round bye on a high note.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it really matters,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI kind of treat every start the same. I\u2019m going to try and go out there and put our team in a position to win, and that won\u2019t change in a regular season [game]. It\u2019s not like I needed to have a good one to be confident going into October. Once the months change and the playoffs start, nothing matters, it\u2019s just about winning that game, and that\u2019s how I treat every single start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Skubal had highlighted fastball command as the main problem with his start last week, also against the Giants, when he gave up a season-high-tying four runs in five innings. <\/p>\n

On Friday, he was the aggressor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an explosive fastball,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe stays behind it well, he hides it well. And then he\u2019s got the secondaries to go with it. So, tonight certainly was really dominant with the fastball, and … could do whatever he wanted tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani takes the field at the start on Friday\u2019s game against the Giants.<\/p>\n

(Jeff Chiu \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Skubal only gave up three hits, all singles, one of which third baseman Max Muncy knocked down the line before the soft grounder could leave the infield in the seventh inning. Skubal retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced.<\/p>\n

In all, Skubal recorded 10 strikeouts, reaching double digits for the fourth time this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s game gets very analytical,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI think when I\u2019m really good at the old-school stuff, like getting ahead, winning your 1-1 counts, getting guys out in three or four pitches, they don\u2019t see me a lot. Our innings are pretty quick, gets our guys in the dugout. Doesn\u2019t allow them to get into rhythm and kind of see anything, so that\u2019s kind of how I assess most of my outings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roki Sasaki \u2014 continuing to log innings in relief in preparation for his postseason role \u2014 threw a perfect eighth. Tanner Scott retired the side in the ninth to record the save.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 offense came via the long ball. Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> continued his red-hot September with a solo home run in the second inning, his fifth homer in a month. Andy Pages<\/a> followed two batters later with a home run, his first since coming off the injured list this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It didn\u2019t matter that Tarik Skubal\u2019s heater zipped across the middle of the plate, belt high to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5888,426,187094,2424,10897,18799,4468,48,52,51,47,50,49,21949,187095,278,1435,18471,315,1543,429],"class_list":["post-476151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-batter","tag-dodgers","tag-final-tuneup","tag-friday","tag-giants","tag-good-rotation","tag-inning","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-pitch","tag-postseason-rotation","tag-season","tag-side","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-time","tag-win","tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}