SAN FRANCISCO — Tarik Skubal had one final regular-season tune-up with the Dodgers, and he made it count.
Skubal delivered perhaps his sharpest performance since joining the Dodgers, firing seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 2-0, at Oracle Park on Friday night. He needed just 75 pitches, 60 for strikes, to navigate seven innings, allowing three hits and walking nobody.
It was the kind of efficient dominance the Dodgers could hardly have scripted better with the postseason approaching.
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“He was on a mission tonight; you could see it,” Dave Roberts said. “That was the best we’ve seen.”
Skubal attacked immediately. He threw a first-pitch strike to 21 of the 23 batters he faced, consistently getting ahead before finishing hitters with his swing-and-miss stuff. By the time his night was over, he had piled up 10 strikeouts and lowered his post-deadline ERA to 2.61 across 62 innings.
That was enough for the Dodgers to hand the ball to Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki, who each supplied a scoreless inning to finish off a 1-hour, 53-minute game.
Skubal’s regular season is now complete. The Dodgers wanted to give Sasaki another look as they prepare for the NLDS, but Skubal’s final outing offered another reminder of what his presence can mean when October arrives.
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The Dodgers didn’t need much offense behind him.
They got both of their runs in the second inning, and both came on no-doubt home runs.
Teoscar Hernández opened the scoring with a solo shot, his 16th homer of the season, and Andy Pages followed with his 22nd, sending another ball out of the park to make it 2-0.
For Pages, the homer was particularly significant. It was his first since returning from the injured list, and it came after he had already made an impact defensively in the bottom of the first with an assist.
Pages provided a glimpse of why the Dodgers have valued him so much this season.
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Hernández finished 1-for-4, while Will Smith continued his productive night at the plate by going 3-for-4.
The Dodgers’ pitching staff has now produced double-digit strikeout performances from starters in consecutive games. Tyler Glasnow struck out 11 on Thursday; Skubal followed with 10 of his own Friday.
The victory moved the Dodgers to 98-62 with two regular-season games remaining.
There was little drama at Oracle Park. No late rally, no bullpen escape act, no offensive eruption.
Just seven dominant innings from Skubal, two swings from Hernández and Pages, and two more scoreless frames to close it out.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
