Tarik Skubal gave the Dodgers exactly the kind of tune-up performance they wanted, and the result was a 2-0 win over the San Francisco Giants.
A week after an admittedly rough outing against the same opponent, Skubal looked locked in from the start. He punched out 10 hitters on only 75 pitches, scattered three hits and didn’t issue a walk. The Giants barely got anything clean against him, with just two hard-hit balls all night.
The left-hander was in attack mode throughout his outing. He faced 23 batters, fired 21 first-pitch strikes and landed 61% of his pitches in the strike zone, an eye-popping number for a starter. He finished with 80% strikes overall, a 48% chase rate and no damage allowed despite a 63% zone swing rate.
With that pitch count, Skubal had a path to a complete-game shutout, but the Dodgers chose to get their relievers some work instead.
Roki Sasaki handled the next inning and did it cleanly, striking out two and not allowing a baserunner. Tanner Scott followed with a spotless frame of his own and earned the save while striking out two.
The Dodgers’ offense did just enough, and the damage came on two swings. Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pages each homered, supplying both runs in a game where the bats were otherwise quiet.
Will Smith kept his recent momentum going with a 3-for-4 night. He didn’t drive in a run, but his bat continues to look encouraging after the Dodgers got him back just a few weeks ago, and his experience should help him settle in quickly.
Pages also stayed hot, going 2-for-3 and adding another strong showing since coming off the injured list.
As a whole, the Dodgers managed only seven hits and a walk, but with the postseason coming next week, the night was more about staying sharp and getting work in than piling up offense.
In Other News...
Former Dodgers Relievers Career Ends After Rough Finish In LA
Kirby Yates final professional appearance came Sept. 26, when he worked 1.2 innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Detroit Tigers before confirming after the game that his career was over. For Dodgers fans, it closes the book on a reliever whose late-career path had already wound through several clubs, including a brief stop in Los Angeles that was part of a wider run of teams trying to get one more useful stretch out of him.
His recent seasons were a mix of quality production, contract movement and the wear-and-tear that tends to follow veteran bullpen arms from team to team. The Dodgers were part of that story, too, as they tried to tap into what remained of Yates swing-and-miss stuff, but the broader arc now lands on retirement rather than another comeback. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Just Added Another Sign Of Their Massive Reach
The Dodgers keep finding new ways to underscore just how far their pull reaches, and their latest milestone came away from the box score. The club announced it has already set a new Dodger Stadium fan-attendance record for the 2025-2026 season, with 4,034,219 tickets sold, giving Los Angeles back-to-back seasons above four million in attendance. It is the sort of number that reflects more than winning alone, even if winning helps, because the ballpark has become a nightly destination for a fan base that stretches well beyond Southern California.
Los Angeles also packed the stadium in a way that speaks to the size of the demand, with 40 games drawing 50,000 or more fans and 14 sellouts. Manager Dave Roberts pointed to the clubs star power and the support it has drawn locally and internationally, and that combination has made Dodger Stadium feel bigger than a home park this season. The only real question now is how much higher the ceiling can go when a team with this kind of reach keeps adding names and keeping the building full. [Read more 🡒]
Kenley Jansen Just Highlighted The Dodgers Call That Changed Everything
Kenley Jansen is in the middle of a remarkable late-career run with the Detroit Tigers, and the numbers around his resume still carry real weight. In his 17th MLB season, he is closing in on 500 career saves, a milestone that would put him among the rarest company in the sport, but the story behind his career still circles back to one of the most important calls the Dodgers ever made.
Jansen has long credited former Dodgers executive De Jon Watson with pushing him to leave catching behind and make the move to the mound in the minors, a shift that altered everything that followed. He has gone on to pitch for several teams since his time in Los Angeles, but he has also made clear he would like to finish his career where it started to mean the most, which only adds another layer to how that old Dodgers decision still echoes today. [Read more 🡒]