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What we learned as Giants dominated by Tarik Skubal in shutout loss to Dodgers
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- What we learned as Giants dominated by Tarik Skubal in shutout loss to Dodgers
What we learned as Giants dominated by Tarik Skubal in shutout loss to Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants stunned Tarik Skubal last weekend at Dodger Stadium, handing him his worst start since a blockbuster trade from Detroit to Los Angeles . On Friday night, Skubal got his revenge.
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The two-time Cy Young Award winner pitched seven dominant innings in front of a sellout crowd that sounded like a 50-50 split, leading the Dodgers to a 2-0 win. At one hour and 53 minutes, it was the third-shortest game in MLB this season and the only Giants game so far to come in under two hours.
The Dodgers took the lead with back-to-back loud homers in the second and seemed poised for a blowout, but some strong defense helped Yunior Marte settle in, and he ended up going five solid innings.
The two sides sailed through the middle and late innings before the Dodgers put the first two runners on in the ninth. Tristan Beck got out of it with a double play and a pop-up, though.
Yunior's Year
Marte started the season in High-A, and a couple months ago, the clear path was for him to finish out the Double-A season, get an invite to big league camp next year and start to show what he's got. Instead, he ended up in the rotation for a Giants team that has been decimated by injuries.
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The 23-year-old made five appearances in September, including three starts. He finished with a 4.44 ERA and 5.77 FIP, and there's definitely a lot of work to do before he gets back to this level. Marte gave up five homers in 24 1/3 innings, and both on Friday came on meatballs.
At the same time, there were definitely some intriguing flashes. He struck out four Friday, and they were some big fish. Shohei Ohtani went down twice, and Marte also got Freddie Freeman and Kyle Tucker .
Marte, acquired for Mike Yastrzemski last year, should begin next season as part of a Triple-A rotation that got an unexpected amount of experience down the stretch.
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Bandur-Arm
The highlights for the Giants came on defense, and specifically, from Scott Bandura's arm. Bandura is a good athlete who can play all three outfield spots, and he certainly looked overqualified for left field.
After the two homers, Enrique Hernandez hit a 104 mph rocket down the left field line, but Bandura got over quickly and made a good throw to Marcelo Mayer , who was starting at second for the first time since his trade to San Francisco. Mayer was on the receiving end again an inning later, when Bandura cut Will Smith down after the catcher hit a ball to the left-center gap.
Bandura became the first Giants outfielder to get two assists in one game since Mike Yastrzemski last June. You have to go all the way back to Rajai Davis in 2007 to find the last rookie to do it for the Giants.
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He Is Good
Skubal needed just 75 pitches — 60 of which were strikes — to get through seven shutout innings, and he probably would have cruised to a Maddux if this weren't his final start of the season. Before departing to rest up for the NLDS, Skubal struck out 10, reaching double digits for the fourth time this season.
There's no analysis here, other than to say that the Giants won't mind at all if the upcoming labor war leads to market conditions in which Skubal lands elsewhere as a free agent. (Also, the Giants have not been Maddux-ed since Ervin Santana needed just 91 pitches to shut them out in 2017.)
