Tarik Skubal threw seven scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants on Friday night, striking out 10 batters on just 75 pitches as the Los Angeles Dodgers won 2-0 at Oracle Park in their final tune-up before the playoffs.
The two-time Cy Young winner allowed only three hits and issued no walks in the outing, one of the best of his career. Manager Dave Roberts called it the best he’s seen from Skubal since the trade.
“That was the best we’ve seen,” Roberts said. “He was on a mission tonight. You could see it. Everything was working … Incredibly good.”
Skubal, a Northern California native, said the approach was simple.
“It’s just pitching aggressive and challenging them,” Skubal said. “Tough park to hit in. And the wind seemed like it was blowing in, kind of keeping fly balls in the yard tonight. So just challenge them and see how far they can hit it.”
The Dodgers acquired Skubal from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline two months ago, viewing him as the one player who could meaningfully raise their World Series odds. The adjustment to his new team wasn’t immediate. He walked at least one batter in eight of his first nine Dodgers starts and didn’t put together a scoreless outing until two weeks ago in Cincinnati, where he struck out nine over seven innings against the Reds.
His last start before Friday was rockier still — four runs allowed in five innings against these same Giants, followed by visible frustration and a few days on the bereavement list.
“I’m not attacking the way I know how to attack,” Skubal said of that stretch. “My stuff’s too good to give a guy a free pass.”
Friday looked nothing like that. Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages homered in a three-batter sequence in the second inning to give Skubal a 2-0 cushion — Pages’ first home run since returning from a fractured hand last week. Skubal then worked ahead of hitters all night, throwing a first-pitch strike to 21 of his 23 batters and touching 100 mph on his fastball for just the third time this season.
“First-pitch strikes [are important],” Skubal said. “Today’s game gets very analytical. I think when I’m really good, it’s at the old-school stuff. Like getting ahead, winning your 1-1 counts, getting guys out in three or four pitches.”
Asked if he’d bullied the Giants’ lineup, Skubal laughed off the word.
“I’m not going to use that word,” he said. “That’ll make a pretty good headline if I say that.”
Skubal closed the regular season with a 12-7 record and a 2.72 ERA. Since joining the Dodgers, he’s gone 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA over 10 starts, winning his last four decisions.
“Those numbers are great,” Skubal said. “I think there’s just some things where I could be better. Today was a really good day. But I’ve also had some kind of poor performances … I think there’s always room for improvement. I’m not really satisfied with anything I’ve accomplished so far.”
The Giants, meanwhile, are finishing out a rough 2026 season with a depleted lineup after their key players struggled and then got hurt. Still, for a Dodgers team built around this trade, Friday’s performance was exactly the signal they were hoping for heading into October.
