The Chicago Cubs spoiled Tarik Skubal’s debut with the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, posting a 5-1 victory behind key RBI singles by Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Dansby Swanson connected for a solo home run as the Cubs won for the third time in four games.
Skubal permitted two runs and four hits over six innings in his first start since he was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner threw 85 pitches, 51 for strikes.
Kyle Tucker homered for the Dodgers, who finished with four hits in its fifth consecutive loss. It’s the longest slide for the Dodgers since they also dropped five in a row in early September last year.
With two out and runners at the corners in the sixth, Hoerner hit a high chopper to the right of the mound. Alex Bregman scampered home on the infield single, giving the Cubs a 2-1 lead.
The Cubs added two more in the seventh on singles by Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki, and Hoerner made it 5-1 with a solo home run off Edwin Díaz in the eighth.
Ryan Rolison (6-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win.
The Dodgers jumped in front in the second. Moments after Mookie Betts bounced into a double play, Tucker drove a 2-1 sinker from Javier Assad to left-center for his 10th home run.
Assad pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up one run and striking out three.
Tucker heard boos for the second consecutive night in his return to Chicago after playing for the Cubs last season. The right fielder, who signed a $240 million, four-year contract with the Dodgers in free agency, also made a lunging catch on Hoerner’s sinking liner to right in the bottom of the second.
Skubal (7-6) retired his first six batters before Swanson drove his first pitch of the third to left-center for his 17th home run, sending a charge through the crowd of 40,584 at Wrigley Field.
Up next
Eric Lauer (6-5, 4.50 ERA) starts for the Dodgers in the series finale Wednesday against fellow left-hander Shota Imanaga (7-9, 3.67).