Tarik Skubal's debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers was spoiled by the Chicago Cubs, who posted a 5-1 victory behind key RBI singles by Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The Cubs have now won three times in four games, while the Dodgers have dropped five consecutive matches, their longest slide since September last year.
Skubal, a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, pitched six innings in his first start since joining the Dodgers from Detroit on Saturday night. He permitted two runs and four hits, throwing 85 pitches, 51 for strikes.
The Dodgers jumped in front in the second inning when Kyle Tucker drove a 2-1 sinker from Javier Assad to left-center for his 10th homer. Tucker, 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.
However, the Cubs took the lead in the sixth inning after Hoerner hit a high chopper to the right of the mound with two out and runners at the corners. Alex Bregman scampered home on the infield single, giving Chicago 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 homer off Edwin Díaz in the eighth. Ryan Rolison pitched a scoreless inning for the win.
Los Angeles' Kyle Tucker homered for the Dodgers, who finished with four hits in their fifth consecutive loss.
The Dodgers will look to bounce back from their slump when they face the Cubs again in their next match.
Source: Yahoo Sports