CHICAGO -- Tarik Skubal didn't have his best stuff in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut Tuesday but managed to keep his team in the game. Unfortunately, the Dodgers provided little run support as they dropped their fifth consecutive game and second straight to the Chicago Cubs.
"It's my job to just go out there and compete and do what I can and try to put our team in a position to win a ballgame," the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner said after a 5-1 loss. "And that's all I can ask myself to do."
Skubal pitched six innings, giving up two runs and four hits while striking out six. One of those hits was a Dansby Swanson home run on a fastball that caught too much of the plate. But Skubal's changeup was as good as ever, and he retired eight in a row at one point, cruising through the fourth and fifth innings.
A double by Alex Bregman off the wall in right in the sixth led to the Cubs' second run, eventually ending Skubal's night after he got out of the inning without further damage.
"I think my stuff was plenty good," Skubal said. "I felt like I commanded everything really well. When I was missing, I was missing in the areas that I was trying to go."
Skubal missed more often than usual, landing only 51 strikes on 85 pitches. That 60% strike rate was the lowest in any of his starts over the past three seasons.
"Tarik's stuff was good," manager Dave Roberts said. "It was good. I think that is the first time I saw him live, but even when it's not perfect, it's still pretty dang good."
Cubs manager Craig Counsell saw it this way from the other dugout: "That's how he is every night. The fastball is really, really good. You see hitters have to cheat for it. It's such good velocity. It's got some cutting action to the right-handers, and there's a fastball that goes the other way and there's really good change-up. ... It's a lot to handle, and you've got to kind of pick pitches at times."
Skubal took the mound just days after being acquired in a headline-making deal with the Detroit Tigers. His presence on the Dodgers increases their chances of winning a third straight championship despite Tuesday's loss.
Though the Dodgers are struggling right now, they still lead their division by nine games, though they have fallen behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in baseball.
"I don't know the answer of what's got to give," Roberts said. "But we got to find a way to win a ballgame."
There's more help on the way as mending Dodgers pitchers Blake Snell (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow (back) both took the mound Tuesday. Glasnow threw two innings -- and a third in the bullpen -- for Single-A Ontario, and Snell made it through 3⅔ innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He was scheduled to pitch five innings but came out early because of a high pitch count.
The Dodgers will continue to take it slow with those pitchers, and Shohei Ohtani (knee) still doesn't have a date to start playing catch again. But none of that means the Dodgers will push Skubal any more than needed. He has already sat out because of an elbow injury this season, and Roberts said he wasn't going to take any chances with his new pitcher.
"There was probably a little bit more in there for sure, but I'm not going to push him every time out," Roberts said of taking Skubal out after six innings. "We have a lot of baseball left to play."
Skubal and Roberts are just getting to know each other. On Day 1, the manager convinced the pitcher that his night was done after 85 pitches. Skubal said he had more in the tank but understood the move.
"I'm going to trust him in those decisions and where he wants to go," Skubal said. "He's the manager for a reason, so I'm always going to support whatever he thinks is best."
Skubal said his nerves going into the game mimicked what he felt in his major league debut. Eyeballs were on him from the moment he peeked his head out for warmups. The boos followed.
"The Cubs' fanbase is awesome," Skubal said. "It's a ton of fun to play in front of. And whether they're rooting against you or for you, I love the fans."
That noise continued throughout the night, getting loudest on Swanson's homer and Bregman's double. It's the first of many hostile environments the pending free agent will face over the next three months.
"I haven't actually made a home start in the postseason," Skubal said. "They've all been on the road. So I've pitched in pretty good environments, and I'd say that's up there with any of those postseason starts."