SAN FRANCISCO — Having secured a first-round bye, the Dodgers will spend next week playing simulated games and taking live batting practice – or has that already started?
A San Francisco Giants team with no position players or starting pitchers left from their Opening Day roster figures to put up little resistance in the final series of the regular season. They didn’t Friday night, managing just three hits and striking out 10 times against Tarik Skubal in his seven scoreless innings as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 2-0.
“That was the best we’ve seen,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Skubal’s start. “He 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. Everything was working tonight.”
Facing the same Giants team a week ago, Skubal was not nearly as good. He allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out only three in five innings. Bouncing back and putting together such a dominant performance in his last outing before the postseason – didn’t matter, he said.
“Yeah, I don’t think it really matters,” Skubal said of carrying the momentum of a good start into the postseason. “I kind of treat every start the same. I’m gonna try and go out there and put our team in a position to win, and that won’t change in a regular season. It’s 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’s just about winning that game, and that’s how I treat every single start. Because I’m just trying to put our team in a position to win a baseball game, and that won’t change from today and whenever my next start is.”
In his final tune-up before the months change, Skubal made the Giants’ lineup look like the Triple-A hitters most of them would be if not for the Giants’ obligation to fill out a major-league roster.
He retired 20 of 23 batters faced, including 13 in a row at one point, and needed just 75 pitches to get through seven innings as the Dodgers recorded their 14th shutout of the season.
“Just executing pitchers over the plate,” Skubal said. “I think at times I’m a little too fine and my changeup command hasn’t been great in two or three starts. I thought a lot of them today were on the plate and that’s what matters. That’s where all the misses, that’s where all the positive results happen, and then it makes my fastball play up too.”
Victor Bericoto singled with two outs in the first inning and was thrown out by center fielder Andy Pages when he tried to stretch it into a double. Scott Bandura singled with one out in the third inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Bandura was the only Giant to touch second base safely against Skubal, who struck out seven of the next nine batters after the sacrifice bunt put him there.
Skubal’s 10 strikeouts included a near-immaculate inning. He struck out the side in the fourth inning on 10 pitches. In all, Giants batters took 43 swings against Skubal’s pitches and missed nearly half of the time (21).
Acquired at the trade deadline more for what he can do in October than anything he did over the final two months of the regular season, Skubal was nonetheless excellent in his 10 starts following the trade. He went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA, 52 hits and 70 strikeouts in 62 innings as a Dodger.
“Those numbers are great. I think there’s just some things where I could be better,” he said. “Today was a really good day, but I’ve also had some kind of poor performances. Especially the walk number (13) to me kind of stands out. That might be showing me that I’m a little timid subconsciously. I’m not attacking the way I know how to attack. I had two last game. I feel like the last five or six starts I’ve had a walk in every single game.
“My stuff’s too good to give a guy a free pass. Let him earn it. … I’ve got eight guys behind me, too. So let them earn their way on instead of giving a free pass. There’s always room for improvement. I’m not really satisfied with anything I’ve accomplished so far.”
The Dodgers’ offense looked less playoff-ready. After gaining momentum for most of September, they have managed just five runs over their past three games, going 2 for 23 with runners in scoring position. They minimized that problem on Friday by getting just four at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Instead, their only runs came on two swings by Teoscar Hernandez and Pages in the second inning. Their home runs off Giants starter Yunior Marte stood up as the only scoring in the game.
“Obviously we hit two homers tonight,” Roberts said. “I thought Will had a really good night (3 for 4). I thought Mookie still looks fine. Yeah, we’re not putting a bunch of hits together. But I still – I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like the results are there, but I still like our intent in the batter’s box. So trying not to overthink it as far as the production the last few games. Because honestly I like where our offense is at mentally.”
In his third game back from the injured list, Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts but Roberts said he still “loved” what Ohtani has done since returning to the lineup.
“You know, he’s fine,” Roberts said. “I really think that just for me, the swing decisions, the bat speed – if that’s in place then the results will be there.”
Roki Sasaki made his second relief appearance since he returned from the IL and struck out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect eighth inning. Tanner Scott closed out the three-hit, 14-strikeout shutout by doing the same in the ninth inning.
The Sasaki-Scott combo to close out a close game also looked October-worthy, though Roberts was not ready to assign any postseason roles for his bullpen.
“I mean, I liked it tonight. They both did a fantastic job,” Roberts said.
“I don’t want you to pigeonhole me into using these guys in certain roles. But yeah, it’s better to have as many guys as you have confidence in in leverage. So it just allows us to deploy guys whenever we need to. … I feel comfortable with a lot of guys at the back end, for sure.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (LHP Blake Snell, 4-1, 1.86 ERA) at Giants (LHP Matt Wilkinson, 1-3, 3.65 ERA), Saturday, 1:05 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM