Tarik Skubal might still be looking for his favorite coffee shop in Los Angeles, but the Dodgers’ newcomer also will search for some improvement from the mound when he faces the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon.
Skubal, a left-hander, has made two starts for the Dodgers since he was dealt just before the trade deadline this month by the Detroit Tigers. Neither outing has necessarily lived up to the high standards of the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner.
Skubal (7-6, 2.93 ERA) gave up two runs over six innings in his Dodgers debut Aug. 4 at the Chicago Cubs and allowed three runs over five innings in his home debut on Monday against the Kansas City Royals.
Los Angeles lost to Chicago 5-1 but beat Kansas City 6-5. Skubal got the loss vs. the Cubs but no decision against the Royals.
“I think it was just fastball command,” he said of his start against the Royals. “I was just spraying them a little bit too much. I gotta get back to competing in the strike zone, and that’s when I’m at my best, consistently getting 0-1 and 0-2 (counts).”
His best will be needed after the Brewers won two of the first three games of the current four-game series. Sunday’s winner will take the season series between the teams, which is tied at three games each.
Milwaukee earned a 4-1 victory Saturday behind six strong innings from Jacob Misiorowski (one run, five hits, six strikeouts) and two-run home runs from Joey Ortiz and William Contreras. The Brewers lead the Dodgers by two games for the best record in the National League.
“We’ve got a very fresh bullpen … (and) we’ve got Skubal going tomorrow,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday. “We lost a ballgame, but we put ourselves in a position to split a series.”
In three career starts against Milwaukee, Skubal is 2-0 with a 2.29 ERA. In an April 23 outing against Milwaukee, he gave up four runs on seven hits over six innings in a no-decision in Detroit’s 5-4 victory.
The Brewers will counter with right-hander Logan Henderson (6-2, 2.88 ERA), who won six consecutive decisions before he gave up three runs over 6 1/3 innings in a 3-2 loss to San Diego Padres on Monday.
With a bullpen that had been stretched thin, Henderson pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in his career when he allowed a go-ahead, two-run home run to Jackson Merrill.
“It felt like it was my first time going seven ups, but it’s no excuse,” Henderson said. “I felt good to go. (Velocity) may have been down a little bit, but I felt like I was able to get three outs there.”
Henderson already has found success against Los Angeles, earning a May 22 win at Milwaukee after he pitched five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in a 2-1 victory. That is his only career appearance against the Dodgers.
If the Brewers have learned anything from their first three days in Los Angeles, it is that they are more than capable of playing with the two-time defending champions.
Contreras had two hits and two runs on Saturday to end an 0-for-20 dry spell over his previous six games.
“I felt like I had been making some hard contact with the ball and finally got one that was able to go over the wall there,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “I don’t wish the bad streak I was on for anyone, but thankfully I was able to connect and move on.”
–Field Level Media
