{"id":484498,"date":"2026-10-04T03:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T03:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484498\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T03:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T03:50:11","slug":"tarik-skubals-dominant-game-1-outing-stakes-dodgers-to-nlds-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484498\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal’s dominant Game 1 outing stakes Dodgers to NLDS lead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dodgers<\/a> left-hander Tarik Skubal<\/a> didn\u2019t feel the full impact of the triple-digit heat Saturday until he sat in to the dugout after his start.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t bearing down on him as he settled in early, or retired 15 straight hitters, or labored through a long sixth inning with the game on the line. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing what your brain can do in certain circumstances and moments,\u201d he said after the Dodgers\u2019 5-3 win against the Atlanta Braves<\/a> in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. \u201dIt\u2019s amazing what you can control and kind of eliminate.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was only talking about the weather. But he may as well have been answering a question about the stakes of the game, or the Dodger Stadium environment, or the pressure that could come from taking the ball in Game 1 as the new addition to a star-studded rotation. <\/p>\n

He took all those factors in stride, en route to a six-inning, one-run gem. And he set up his new team, the one that had acquired him at the deadline<\/a> to make exactly this kind of impact in the postseason, with a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-five series. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo win Game 1 is certainly important, very important,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said. \u201cWe could have deployed our starters any way we wanted, but to have Blake [Snell] going tomorrow, to follow up with what Tarik did today, and knowing that you\u2019ve got [Yoshinobu Yamamoto] in the holster for Game 3, we\u2019re in a good spot. It all starts with winning Game 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Dodgers eventually broke open the game via the long ball, and the Braves were forced to throw a bullpen game coming out of a taxing wild-card round, Game 1 began as a pitching duel. <\/p>\n

Braves left-hander Dylan Dodd held the Dodgers to just two hits through three scoreless innings. But Skubal was even more impressive, especially when he settled in after the first inning.<\/p>\n

The subtle difference was clear when contrasting Braves leadoff hitter Drake Baldwin\u2019s first and second at-bats against Skubal.<\/p>\n

Skubal fell behind with his first pitch of the game, a fastball below the zone. He worked back, with another fastball for a strike and a foul-tipped changeup low and away. But then, in a two-strike count, Skubal missed his spot, giving Baldwin a thigh-high changeup that he could drive.<\/p>\n

That sharp single through the middle of the infield was one of just two hits he gave up Saturday. And after it, he retired 15 straight batters.<\/p>\n

By the time Skubal faced Baldwin again, with two outs in the third, his whole arsenal was dialed in. Four of the last five outs he\u2019d recorded were strikeouts, with a different put-away pitch for each: slider, sinker, curveball, changeup.<\/p>\n

This time, Skubal was the aggressor, getting to a 0-2 count with a slider and sinker inside. Then Baldwin avoided chasing a pair of sliders to even the count. Skubal came back inside with a fastball that Baldwin fouled off.<\/p>\n

So, to end the at-bat, Skubal went to his signature changeup. It dove out of the bottom of the strike zone, and Baldwin swung through it, ending the inning on a strikeout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a pretty good view when it\u2019s pretty good,\u201d catcher Will Smith said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter what the hitter is going to do. It\u2019s, if he\u2019s on, it\u2019s really hard to hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal strutted off the mound, hit the palm of his glove twice, and slapped hands with Smith.<\/p>\n

\"Dodger <\/p>\n

Dodger pitcher Tarik Skubal is congratulated by Will Smith after making quick work of the Braves in the second inning.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The southpaw didn\u2019t allow another baserunner until the sixth. But by then, the Dodgers had been holding onto a lead for two innings. <\/p>\n

Two innings earlier Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez broke the scoreless tie with a two-run homer. <\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez knows how to fire up a crowd in a big postseason moment. And he seized his chance when he got a cutter down the middle from Braves reliever Victor Mederos. Hern\u00e1ndez tossed his bat back toward the home dugout, and it sliced through the air end-over-end.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always want to be the guy to be in those moments,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI worked really hard for it, and I think the bigger the moment, the more focused I get.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, when Sean Murphy got a hold of Skubal\u2019s top-rail sinker for a solo homer in the sixth, the Dodgers still had a one-run advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, the home run at-bat was probably the best executed at-bat of that inning,\u201d Skubal said. <\/p>\n

He walked Ha-Seong Kim, Skubal\u2019s first of the game, right after the home run. Then, after a pair of fielder\u2019s-choice grounders, he fell behind in the count to Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. And with a runner on base, he knew Acu\u00f1a could put the Braves ahead with one swing. So, he didn\u2019t give him anything to hit, and ended up walking him, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust understanding count leverage, understanding like momentum in game and trying to stop all those things,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI think that\u2019s part of what a starting pitcher does, and trying to leave the game with your team winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitching coach Mark Prior came out for a mound visit, but Roberts stayed put, trusting his Game 1 starter to face Braves left-handed cleanup hitter Matt Olson for a third time. Skubal escaped the inning by getting Olson to chase an outside fastball and fly out to left field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a competitor,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cSince the first day he got here, he\u2019s trying to give everything that he got for this team. It feels like he\u2019s been here forever. The person that he is, the player that he is, the way he works, it just has been awesome not only for him, but for everybody in the clubhouse and the organization to see the way he goes about his business and the dedication that he puts every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers offense showed its appreciation with a surge in the bottom half of the inning. <\/p>\n

Right fielder Kyle Tucker, in his first postseason game as a Dodger, hit a two-run home run. And Max Muncy joined in with a solo homer.<\/p>\n

Dodgers relievers Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia each retired the side in order, in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Left-hander Tanner Scott, whom Roberts plans to use in a fireman role, surrendered a two-run homer to Ozzie Albies in the ninth. But right-hander Evan Phillips came in to record the final out.<\/p>\n

A combination of home runs and Skubal\u2019s dominance made that ninth-inning blip just a side note. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cA really good starting rotation obviously is really helpful, but it is very impactful for quality of life,\u201d president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said before the game. \u201cWe have gone through years where our starting rotation hasn\u2019t been as good. In \u201924 that wasn\u2019t a strength of our roster. We won the World Series. The quality of life is way more difficult than being able to pencil in a Skubal, a [Blake] Snell, a [Yoshinobu Yamamoto], and a [Tyler Glasnow.]\u201d<\/p>\n

That held true for Game 1. Now, the Dodgers are just two wins away from the NLCS.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur starting pitching is elite,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to watch all these guys throw. I love when they take the ball because it gives us a really good chance to win, and that\u2019s all you can ask.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dodgers left-hander Tarik Skubal didn\u2019t feel the full impact of the triple-digit heat Saturday until he sat in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[14710,10445,163943,426,18489,10254,423,48,52,51,47,50,49,189543,2967,20790,163507,86029,18471,189545,189544],"class_list":["post-484498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-baldwin","tag-braves","tag-changeup","tag-dodgers","tag-fastball","tag-first-inning","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-nlds-lead","tag-out","tag-pair","tag-sinker","tag-slider","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-time-skubal","tag-two-strike-count"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484498","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=484498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}