LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers may still have not seen Tarik Skubal at his absolute best, but the left-hander has inched closer to that version of himself every time he takes the mound.
Skubal turned in a strong performance, holding the Reds to two earned runs across 7 1/3 innings in a 3-2 Dodgers win on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. He struck out five, walked two and gave up four hits in his longest start since being traded to the Dodgers last month.
"I think that's ultimately the job of a starting pitcher," Skubal said. "One, to give your team a chance to win every time you're out there, and two, to eat as many innings as you can."
The Dodgers have won each of Skubal's past four starts and, with the victory Tuesday, recorded a season-high-tying sixth consecutive win. In seven starts with L.A., he has recorded a 2.95 ERA (14 earned runs in 43 innings) and struck out 48 against 10 walks.
"We haven't seen his best, and he's still really performing," manager Dave Roberts said before the game.
Skubal expressed a similar opinion of his body of work with the Dodgers. He has generally felt good about the quality of his stuff and the way he's been able to execute on the mound, but he has bemoaned not consistently being able to pitch deeper into games. He has not been as efficient as he would like to be over the past month-plus, which has been holding him back.
"I don't think I've thrown the ball as well as I know I'm capable of yet," Skubal said.
On Tuesday, Skubal was in a groove from the start. He allowed at least one baserunner in each inning from the second through the sixth, but aside from surrendering a Statcast-projected 444-foot moonshot to Elly De La Cruz in the third, he had little trouble navigating the traffic the Reds created.
Skubal came back out for the eighth inning for the first time as a Dodger to face Reds nine-hole hitter Héctor Rodríguez, and after inducing a groundout, his night was over. He walked off the mound to a loud ovation from his home crowd.
"Really efficient, going after guys. I thought you saw that from the first pitch," Roberts said. "And with that, you got a lot of quick outs, efficiency."
In Skubal's short time in L.A., he has made quite the impression on his teammates. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner was an ace with the Tigers, and the feeling he brings when he takes the mound is reminiscent of the leader of the Dodgers' pitching staff.
"I think he's like [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto," said Teoscar Hernández, who continued his recent tear with a go-ahead RBI single in the fifth inning that held as the winning run. "Every time he has the ball in his hand, we expect him to throw a really good game. … It's fun to watch him now on this side now that we don't have to face him."
And yet, Skubal is still not satisfied. He holds himself to a high standard, and he is always in pursuit of getting better.
"Sometimes I'm fighting myself, or I just haven't really gotten to the rhythm of who I am on the mound yet," Skubal said. "There's still work to be done in that aspect, and that's also what makes this job fun. I get to continue to strive to be a better version of myself tomorrow when I wake up. … That's what makes the game beautiful, is you’ve always got a chance to get a little bit better."
The Dodgers have heated up at the right time. They lead the D-backs for first place in the NL West by 10 1/2 games with 17 left to play. Their 88-57 record is the second best in the National League -- 1 1/2 games behind the Brewers -- and they've pulled three games ahead of the Braves for the second first-round bye.
Momentum is building toward the most important games of the year, but until they get there, the Dodgers are focused on doing the right things in the present day.
"We're not thinking about October right now," Hernández said. "We're thinking about just playing the game, win games and just be ready for it."