The Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night did not get vintage Tarik Skubal, but they did get a much-needed win -- 6-5 over the visiting Royals -- hours after manager Dave Roberts cited a need for more urgency from the back-to-back defending World Series champions.
Coming in, the Dodgers had lost eight of their last nine games and three straight series, a span that included sweeps by the Red Sox and Cubs. While the Dodgers' hold on the National League West remains firm, they find themselves in danger of not securing a first-round bye in the NL playoff bracket, thanks in part to their recent skid. "Everyone's trying," Roberts said before Monday's contest, via the California Post. "But I think the effort could still be enhanced and improved and more focused. So yeah, I think it's just a reminder. A good reminder. There's plenty of time. We're still plenty good. But we gotta play like it."
"(Saying), 'We're gonna be OK and we're good,' that's not good enough," Roberts continued. "Clearly it's not, given how we've played over the last month. So we put ourselves in this position. (We have) a lot of talent. But I think across the board, we need to play with more urgency. And our guys know that."
Roberts even mentioned that the vaunted Dodger lineup had been getting "bullied" by fastballs.
For a time, that urgency remained elusive, as the Dodgers fell behind early, 3–0, to one of the worst teams in baseball. In the sixth, they claimed their first lead of the game on a three-run double by Max Muncy. In the bottom of the seventh, Shohei Ohtani singled and stole his first base since May 16. That put him in position to score the go-ahead run on Freddie Freeman's single. Struggling closer Edwin Díaz worked a spotless ninth for the save.
The win was most welcome, particularly in light of Roberts' pre-game challenge. However, the lefty ace Skubal, the winner of the last two American League Cy Young awards as a member of the Tigers and the Dodgers' headline-grabbing deadline addition, was not his vintage self in his home debut with L.A.
Two of the three runs he allowed came on a Jac Caglianone home run in the second. According to GameScore, which measures the effectiveness of a starting pitcher in a given start, Skubal's figure of 51 was his lowest since June 19. While Skubal's fastball velocity was up on Monday night, he's fallen short of expectations across his first two starts as a Dodger. After those two starts, he has an ERA of 4.09 and an FIP of 4.64. The sample size is, of course, minuscule, but the Dodgers probably need something closer to peak Skubal if they're going to finish ahead of the Brewers or Braves and secure that bye.
"I kinda sprayed the ball a little bit," Skubal said after the game, according to the Post. "That's kinda unusual for me, especially with fastball command and stuff like that."
"I thought I competed well and gave our team a chance to win," he continued. "But I'll be better going forward."
"I do think that first home start, there's some emotions that bleed into it," Roberts said of Skubal's outing. "I think we're going to see a different guy as far as performance (in his next start) on Sunday."
As for the increased sense of mission that Roberts requested prior to the game, it was there. "I saw that urgency tonight," he said, "which we gotta build on from here on out."
Going into Tuesday night's game against the Royals, the Dodgers, at 71-48, lead the Diamondbacks by 7 ½ games in the NL West. However, they're three games behind the Brewers for best record in the NL (and across all of MLB) and tied with the NL East-leading Braves for second-best record in the NL. The top two division winners in each league get to skip the wild-card round and proceed straight to the Division Series. That's what Skubal and the Dodgers are eyeing, and, as Roberts' call for urgency implied, the margins are tight.
