Tarik Skubal finally got the first one out of the way for the Dodgers, and he did it the hard way. After a rough first inning on Saturday, he settled in, struck out 11 and worked seven innings in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The early damage came fast. Skubal gave up three runs on three hits in the first six minutes, then shut the door for the next six innings, allowing just two hits the rest of the way. He had not delivered a signature outing or earned a win over his first three starts with the Dodgers, so this was the kind of night that changes the conversation around a new arm.
Dave Roberts said Skubal was on the attack after the Pirates put two runners on in the second inning, and that the game looked different from that point on. Roberts added that seven innings from Skubal reset the bullpen, which mattered in a one-run game that the Dodgers needed to finish cleanly. Skubal also drew a standing ovation when he walked off in the seventh, a sign the crowd knew it had seen the outing he had been searching for.
Skubal said it felt good to get the first one out of the way and admitted he did not do a good job early in the game. He credited his teammates for keeping the Dodgers in it until the offense took over, and that is where Kyle Tucker made the biggest swing of the night. Tucker, who came in riding an 0-for-26 drought and had been below the Mendoza Line at home, drove a go-ahead two-run single off Yohan Ramirez in the fifth inning.
That hit gave the Dodgers the edge they needed, and it came after Alek Thomas had already pushed across a run with an RBI single in the fourth. Thomas was called up from triple-A Oklahoma City after Andy Pages sustained a hand fracture on Friday, another reminder that the Dodgers are patching together results while injuries keep changing the shape of the roster.
There was also a clean split in the night’s rhythm. Skubal’s first inning was messy, but the rest of his start looked like control and command, not survival. The Dodgers now have five straight wins, and with Skubal giving them seven innings, the bullpen was spared for another night in a tight game. What still hangs over this run is whether the early trouble was a one-off lapse or the kind of opening that stronger opponents will force him to answer again.
