Tarik Skubal’s home debut at Dodger Stadium didn’t get off to a great start on Monday night.
Skubal made his second start for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday since he landed with the organization in a blockbuster deal with the Detroit Tigers ahead of the deadline.
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Skubal gave up four hits and three earned runs, while striking out six, in five innings and 95 pitches on Monday night. Half of those hits were from Kansas City star Jac Caglianone, who helped power the Royals to an early lead in the outing.
The Royals wasted no time against Skubal, either. He gave up a single just four pitches into the contest, which resulted in a run later in the inning after Caglianone hit one of his own.
That put the Royals up instantly, only 13 pitches into Skubal’s outing.
Skubal walked a batter in the second inning, but then struck out two to salvage the frame. But in the third, the Royals threw up two more after Caglianone hit a two-run homer.
Skubal had a clean frame in the fourth, and got out of the inning catching Michael Massey swinging, which came after the Dodgers got two back in the third off an RBI double from Shohei Ohtani and an RBI single from Freddie Freeman.
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After nearly getting out of the fifth inning, Skual hit Nick Loftin and then walked Bobby Whitt Jr.. But Skubal finally got Caglianone and struck him out swinging to save the inning, which turned out to be his last. The Dodgers replaced him with Alex Vesia to start the sixth.
Skubal made his debut last week in a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. While they didn’t win, Skubal looked pretty good — especially early. He rolled through the first two innings without allowing a baserunner, and then had two more clean frames after giving up a solo home run in the third. He ended up allowing four total hits, two runs and had six strikeouts in 86 pitches in that contest.
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That game averaged 923,000 viewers across TBS, truTV and HBO Max, too, which made it the most-watched regular-season game on a TNT Sports network since 2007.
But the Dodgers, especially since landing Skubal, have been bad almost out of nowhere. The team entered Monday’s contest in Kansas City having lost eight of their last nine games. They were swept in back-to-back series by both the Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, and now no longer have the best record in baseball. Their lead in the NL West, at 70-48, is still very safe.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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