LOS ANGELES -- The temperature at first pitch registered at a sizzling 100° F as the NL Division Series opener between the Dodgers and Braves got underway on Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
But the Braves had an additional source of triple-digit heat bearing down on them: Tarik Skubal.
The Dodgers swung big at the Trade Deadline to add Skubal to their gauntlet of a postseason rotation, and the two-time Cy Young Award winner delivered in NLDS Game 1, striking out seven across six innings of one-run ball in L.A.'s 5-3 victory over Atlanta.
"The fire that he has in him, it was fun to see," said Max Muncy, who homered along with Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández.
History favors the Dodgers as they begin their bid for the fifth three-peat in World Series history. In all best-of-five postseason series, teams taking a 1-0 lead have gone on to win the series 116 of 160 times (73%). In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams taking a 1-0 lead at home have gone on to win 42 of 56 times (75%).
Starting at home for the first time in seven career postseason appearances, Skubal came out blazing. He threw his hardest pitch of the season -- a 101.1 mph fastball to Austin Riley in the fourth inning -- and had his highest average four-seamer velocity this year at 98.1 mph.
"I think I was just trying to match the temperature out there," Skubal said. "It was a hot one."
For Skubal, an Arizona product, Saturday's conditions were far from the most severe he has thrown under, as he recalled pitching in 127° F temperatures in Lake Havasu when he was younger. However, he acknowledged, pitching in the postseason turns up the heat compared with pitching in Little League.
"It's hot. No denying that," Skubal said. "Every team's playing in it, right? They're playing in the same conditions we are. It doesn't really matter. It shouldn't really impact how you are mentally or how it's going to impact how you pitch. Just go out there and play baseball and try to drink water."
Under the hot sun, Skubal hardly seemed to break a sweat -- figuratively -- through his first five innings. After giving up a leadoff single to Drake Baldwin, the southpaw retired 15 straight batters, striking out seven of them.
"He was executing pitches," catcher Will Smith said. "He was changing speeds, going in and out. He was keeping hitters off-balance."
But to open the sixth inning, Skubal surrendered a leadoff homer to Sean Murphy, which made it a one-run game after Hernández's two-run blast two innings earlier. Once the Braves got on the board, they seemed to gain some momentum.
Skubal walked nine-hole hitter Ha-Seong Kim, and his next two batters grounded into fielder's choices, leaving him with traffic on the bases. He issued his second walk of the inning to Ozzie Albies before getting Matt Olson to fly out to escape the jam, stranding two runners.
"Honestly," Skubal said, "the home run at-bat was probably the best-executed at-bat of that inning. … [To be] able to get out of the inning with just one run was huge."
Not only did Skubal have his four-seamer running hot in his Game 1 start, but his changeup was a weapon of a secondary offering. He induced at least one swing-and-miss on all five pitch types he threw, with eight of the 13 total whiffs coming off his changeup.
"The few changeups that he threw me away were pretty much dotted down and away," said Riley, who struck out twice against Skubal. "He's got a really good four-seamer, and it blends well with the changeup. There's a reason why he's one of the best in the game."
Skubal is but one arm in a daunting Dodgers rotation. They consider themselves to have four No. 1 starters, and Skubal was just the first man up. Blake Snell will take the mound in Game 2 to try to stake L.A. to a 2-0 series lead before the series shifts to Atlanta, where Yoshinobu Yamamoto is lined up for Game 3 and Tyler Glasnow for a potential Game 4.
"We could have deployed our starters any way we wanted," manager Dave Roberts said, "but to have Blake going tomorrow to follow up with what Tarik did today and knowing that you got Yama in the holster for Game 3, we're in a good spot. It all starts with winning Game 1."