Skubal Kicks It Into High Gear, Dodgers Zip Past Giants in 2-0 Shutout

There are quick baseball games, and then there are games that seem to have somewhere else to be.

Friday night at Oracle Park belonged to the latter.

The Dodgers needed just one hour and 53 minutes to dispatch the Giants 2-0, giving San Francisco very little time to contemplate what had just happened and giving the Dodgers their sixth straight victory over their Northern California rivals. It was the second-fastest game in the history of the ballpark and the fastest Dodgers-Giants game since 1958.

If there was a reason the game moved along at that kind of pace, it was standing on the mound wearing No. 29.

Tarik Skubal does not appear to be a man who enjoys wasting time.

The Dodgers' newest ace worked seven innings, allowed three hits, walked nobody and struck out 10 while throwing 60 strikes among his 75 pitches. He did it with a pace that suggested he had left the espresso machine running back at the hotel and really needed to get home before it burned the place down.

There was very little standing around, very little wandering off the mound and apparently no interest whatsoever in allowing the Giants to get comfortable.

Get the sign. Get set. Throw.

Next.

And next.

And next.

By the time Skubal was finished, the Giants had spent seven innings trying to figure out what had hit them.

The Dodgers gave him all the offense he needed in the second inning.

Teoscar Hernández got things started with a home run, and Andy Pages followed with one of his own, giving Los Angeles a 2-0 lead that somehow looked enormous considering the way Skubal was pitching. The Giants would manage only one more baserunner against him after the fifth inning, and San Francisco never seriously threatened to turn the game into anything resembling a contest.

For Skubal, it was another significant step toward October.

The 12-7 left-hander recorded his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season and his second since joining the Dodgers. It was also his 10th start since arriving from Detroit, and the Dodgers have now won each of his last six outings. He has won his last four decisions while continuing to look increasingly comfortable in a rotation that suddenly has some very interesting possibilities attached to it.

And then there was the eighth inning.

Roki Sasaki came out of the bullpen carrying that enormously funny looking yellow glove.

The joke became considerably less funny to the Giants.

Sasaki faced three batters in the eighth and retired all three, striking out two of them. He came and went without incident, and suddenly that bullpen experiment that was once merely an idea has begun producing some rather interesting results.

Skubal spent seven innings making the Giants swing and miss.

Roki spent one inning making them swing and miss.

Tanner Scott then came in for the ninth and finished the job, earning his 24th save.

The entire thing was over before anybody had time to order a second round of those Gilroy Garlic Fries.

There was also an interesting contrast between Skubal's business-like departure and what happened afterward. Once his night was finished, Skubal made his way down the line and hugged the members of the starting lineup. Seven innings of shutout baseball, 10 strikeouts, 75 pitches—and then a quick tour of the dugout to hand out hugs.

It was a fitting ending to a night that never seemed interested in lingering.

Of course, not everybody had a memorable evening.

Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his third game since returning from the injured list. There were also those chants from the Dodger fans scattered in the San Francisco crowd, which have apparently become a two-front campaign involving both “Bring Back JDP” and the less complimentary Ohtani refrain.

Ohtani did not exactly silence the latter Friday night.

Then again, the Dodgers didn't need him to.

They had Skubal.

They had two home runs in the second inning.

They had Roki for the eighth.

They had Tanner for the ninth.

And they had somewhere to be.

The victory gave Los Angeles its seventh win in 11 meetings with San Francisco this season and secured the season series for the fifth consecutive year. The Dodgers have now gone 47-22 against the Giants during that stretch, which is another way of saying that Northern California continues to be a fairly productive place for them to conduct business.

Friday's game simply took the concept of efficient business to another level.

One hour, 53 minutes.

No drama. No marathon. No bullpen parade.

Just Skubal throwing strikes, the Giants swinging at them, Roki bringing the MLB’s largest baseball glove out for a brief appearance, and Tanner Scott putting the final three outs in the books.

After Thursday night's mess in Los Angeles, when the Padres celebrated their postseason berth in the visitors' clubhouse, this was a much more pleasant way to spend an evening in Northern California.

The Dodgers didn't exactly crash anyone’s party.

They just showed up, took care of business and left before the coffee got cold.