Tarik Skubal turned in another quality start on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to help the Los Angeles Dodgers win their season series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The left-hander has been effective with his new team, but not quite at the level of his Cy Young Award-winning performances while pitching for the Detroit Tigers.
“Yeah, I’ve just got to be more consistent,” Skubal said after his start against the Brewers. “Continue to get quality contact on the ground, and sometimes you need a little bit of luck. You need some guys to hit it at some guys, and get some outs that.
“The stuff coming out of my hand is as good as it’s ever been. And honestly, my execution today was pretty good too. I need to go back and watch some stuff, but from what I feel from an early thought process, I thought stuff coming out of my hand was good and execution was pretty good.
“There’s always room for improvement in that sense, but in the same breath, you can’t beat yourself up too much. I’m not going to be perfect out there, but I need to need to be more efficient. That’s the standard that I hold myself to, is pitching deeper in ballgames and giving our team a chance to win every time out.”
Skubal allowed just two runs (one earned) and seven hits in six innings of work on Sunday. But nothing came easy as the Brewers consistently worked the count and spoiled a lot of his pitches.
“They had a good approach today,” Skubal said. “They swung and fouled off some really good pitches, took some really good pitches, saw some things really well out of hand that typically kind of get missed.
“Sometimes you’ve got to give a little credit to the hitters. It seemed like they had a good approach. But my job doesn’t change. I’ve got to continue to make pitches, continue to get ahead and throw strikes. I felt like I did that.”
The Brewers did all of their damage against Skubal with two outs and showed why they are considered one of the peskiest teams in baseball.
“I’ve just got to be better in those moments,” Skubal said. “The slider down and in to (Luis) Lara has got to be a little more down and in, and the changeup to (Jake) Bauers has got to be a more quality pitch down in the zone. It was in, but it needs to be more down.
“As much as they kind of grind at-bats, they also put some swings on some balls. I need to execute some pitches in some two-strike counts a little bit better as well.”
Tarik Skubal appreciates Dave Roberts
Skubal looked especially frustrated after the Brewers strung together consecutive two-out hits in the fifth inning to push across their second run against him. He threw 28 pitches in the frame and did not appear likely to return for the top of the sixth.
However, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts allowed him to go back out to the mound, and Skubal rewarded his trust by striking out the side on 14 pitches. He ended up throwing a career-high 109 pitches against the Brewers.
“I think I was just frustrated with the pitch count through five,” Skubal explained. “I think that’s what I was frustrated about. I just need to be more efficient. I’m glad Doc gave me an opportunity to go back out there for the sixth and save some innings from the bullpen. They’ve been grinding for us, and on days I go.
“My last outing was five (innings), the one before that was six. It’s not acceptable. It’s not the standard of what I think I’m capable of in this league. I just need to be better, so thankful for the opportunity to just go eat another inning for the guys.”
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