{"id":484376,"date":"2026-10-04T00:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T00:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484376\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T00:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T00:36:15","slug":"skubal-dominates-in-100-degree-heat-as-the-los-angeles-dodgers-beat-the-atlanta-braves-5-3-in-nlds-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484376\/","title":{"rendered":"Skubal dominates in 100-degree heat as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3 in NLDS opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — Tarik Skubal tossed six dominant innings in triple-digit heat, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy homered, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3 in Game 1 of their NL Division Series on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The game-time temperature of 100 degrees fell just short of equaling the Dodger Stadium record of 103 degrees at Game 1 of the 2017 World Series. The feels-like temperature was 105 degrees, with umpires chugging water between innings and fans shielding their heads with giveaway towels on a cloudless day.<\/p>\n

Skubal was cool, though.<\/p>\n

The two-time Cy Young Award winner allowed one run and two hits, struck out seven and walked two while starting a postseason game at home for the first time in his career. His previous playoff starts were all on the road for the Detroit Tigers, who traded him to the two-time defending World Series champions just before the Aug. 3 deadline.<\/p>\n

Skubal’s 63 strikeouts are the second-most in a pitcher’s first seven postseason appearances behind Bob Gibson’s 74.<\/p>\n

Game 2 is Sunday evening at Dodger Stadium, when an extreme heat warning remains in effect.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers<\/p>\n

Fans try to deal with the heat during the first inning of Game 1 of a National League Division Series baseball game between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez and Tucker each hit a two-run homer against the Braves’ bullpen. Atlanta’s rotation got upended during its three-game NL Wild Card Series win over Philadelphia, with the Braves using ace Chris Sale in relief in the deciding game.<\/p>\n

The Braves managed just four hits. Sean Murphy’s two-strike, 421-foot homer leading off the sixth left them trailing 2-1.<\/p>\n

Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. singled leading off the ninth against reliever Tanner Scott, who then served up a 432-foot homer to Ozzie Albies, cutting the lead to 5-3. Scott then got two outs before Evan Phillips induced a groundout by Austin Riley with a runner aboard to earn the save.<\/p>\n

Braves starter Dylan Dodd tossed three scoreless innings and gave up only singles to Shohei Ohtani in the first and Mookie Betts in the third.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers broke through against Atlanta’s bullpen in the fourth. Losing pitcher Victor Mederos walked Freddie Freeman before serving up Hern\u00e1ndez’s 431-foot shot to left-center, making it 2-0.<\/p>\n

Still bothered by nagging arm and knee issues, Ohtani batted second behind Betts and lined to second with a runner on to end the third and flew out with a runner on in the fifth.<\/p>\n

Tucker went deep in the sixth, and Muncy added a solo shot off AJ Smith-Shawver two batters later, extending the lead to 5-1.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

The Braves had yet to announce a starter for Game 2 on Sunday against Dodgers LHP Blake Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — Tarik Skubal tossed six dominant innings in triple-digit heat, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, Kyle Tucker and Max…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[189511,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-484376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-189511","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484376","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=484376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}