CHICAGO — The boos rained down at Wrigley Field long before Tarik Skubal had even thrown his first pitch as a Dodger.
In his first career visit to the Friendly Confines, the newly acquired Dodgers southpaw was met with the full force of Cubs fans’ displeasure, starting when he went out to the visitors’ bullpen to warm up before the game. The boos grew louder still during lineup announcements, and crescendoed as he took the mound donning L.A.’s road blues.
The hottest commodity on the market ahead of this year’s Trade Deadline, Skubal was desired by many teams and fanbases, including the Cubs. Over the weekend, the back-to-back champion Dodgers, loading up for a three-peat, went out and got him.
For most of the evening in his Dodgers debut on Tuesday, Skubal kept the home crowd at bay. But he exited in line for the loss after allowing two runs in six innings. L.A. entered the night on a season-high-tying four-game losing streak.
Skubal struck out six, walked two and allowed four hits in his first start since being traded from the Tigers to the Dodgers two days before the Trade Deadline. The left-hander froze Pete Crow-Armstrong on a 99.1 mph sinker for the first out of the game and retired each of his first six hitters.
The third inning brought trouble, with Dansby Swanson taking Skubal deep to lead off the frame. Skubal gave up a single to Crow-Armstrong and issued his first walk of the night to Seiya Suzuki, but allowed no further damage that inning.
Skubal followed with two perfect innings, but got into another jam in the sixth. Suzuki drew another walk, and Alex Bregman doubled on a fly ball over the glove of right fielder Kyle Tucker to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Tommy Edman and Ben Rortvedt connected to cut down Suzuki at the plate, but a high chopper from Nico Hoerner allowed Bregman to score the go-ahead run.
After getting Tyrone Taylor to fly out to end the sixth inning, Skubal’s night was over after throwing 85 pitches, with the Dodgers trailing by a run.
