LOS ANGELES -- Tarik Skubal looked like a man on a mission in what was sure to be his final inning of work on Sunday against the Brewers.
The southpaw sat down his final three batters in order in the sixth inning, striking out the side in emphatic fashion -- perhaps relieving some of the frustration that seemed to have built while the Brewers drove up his pitch count all afternoon.
Skubal allowed just two runs (one earned) across six innings, but he was charged with the loss as the Dodgers fell to the Brewers, 6-2, in the series finale at Dodger Stadium. After dropping three of four this weekend, L.A. lost the season series to Milwaukee, which could have ramifications later on if tiebreakers are needed to determine postseason seeding.
In his third start as a Dodger, Skubal struck out seven, walked two, allowed seven hits and threw a career-high 109 pitches. He had not thrown more than 96 this season.
While Skubal had to grind his way through a Brewers lineup that put plenty of traffic on the basepaths, he was able to limit the damage. One run scored on a missed-catch error from Tommy Edman in the second inning and the other crossed the plate on Jake Bauers' RBI single in the fifth. After Skubal induced a groundout to get out of his penultimate inning, his frustration was visible as he walked off the mound.
Skubal's pitch count was already at 95 through five innings, but he went back out for the sixth and made relatively quick work of his final hitters. He struck out Brandon Lockridge swinging on three pitches and retired Joey Ortiz on a foul tip on four pitches. Jonathan Ornelas worked the count a bit more, but Skubal dotted a curveball on the seventh pitch of the at-bat to sit him down.
In three starts as a Dodger, Skubal has recorded a 3.18 ERA (six earned runs in 17 innings).
Opposing Skubal was right-hander Logan Henderson, whose name often surfaced as a trade chip in hypothetical Brewers packages for Skubal leading up to the Trade Deadline. Henderson outdueled Skubal on Sunday, stymying the Dodgers across seven innings of one-run ball.