Tarik Skubal retires 15 straight Braves batters in first Dodgers playoff start, backed by 3 homers in Game 1 NLDS win

On a day when temperatures reached triple digits in Southern California, Los Angeles Dodgers ace Tarik Skubal turned up the heat, too.The lefty hurler consistently flirted with and eventually topped 100 mph in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.That set up his lethal changeup, which played a pivotal role in his retiring 15 straight batters after conceding a leadoff single. Skubal got plenty of run support, too, with the Dodgers homering three times in a 5-3 victory that staked Dave Roberts' crew to a 1-0 series lead.Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker both smashed two-run homers. Max Muncy hit a solo shot. Shohei Ohtani, who has been battling knee, biceps and neck issues, ripped a single in his first at-bat of the playoffs, yet finished 1-for-4.The Braves' runs were also the result of long balls. Sean Murphy went yard in the sixth to temporarily make it a one-run game, and Ozzie Albies provided Atlanta fans a sliver of hope in the ninth with a no-out, two-run blast.Skubal ended the afternoon with seven strikeouts — four off his signature changeup — and gave up only two hits and one run in his first playoff start for the Dodgers after they acquired the two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner from the Detroit Tigers ahead of the trade deadline.Tarik Skubal is PUMPED after retiring his 15th straight batter pic.twitter.com/DZ8mszRZIt— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 3, 2026 The Braves began the NLDS with the same blueprint they used to finish off the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card round two days earlier. It offered manager Walt Weiss the start he was looking for, defensively at least.The hero of Atlanta’s winner-take-all game versus the Phillies was left-handed reliever Ray Kerr, who opened with 3 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Weiss entrusted another member of his bullpen, southpaw Dylan Dodd, with the ball to start Saturday's game against the Dodgers. Dodd delivered as well, recording three scoreless frames while tallying four strikeouts.But as soon as the Braves changed things on the bump, the game got bumpy for the NL East champs. The NL West's best feasted on Atlanta's Victor Mederos in the fourth. The righty struggled with his command from the get-go, issuing a four-pitch walk to Freddie Freeman and then hanging a cutter over the middle of the plate against Hernández. The left fielder crushed a towering, 431-foot, two-run dinger off that pitch.He watched it land from the batter's box, knowing it was gone as soon as he launched it. With that, the Dodgers were up 2-0. TEOSCAR HERNÁNDEZ LEAVES THE YARD! pic.twitter.com/fPkgA1xwKz— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2026 The most trouble Skubal ran into came in the sixth inning. Just when he looked unhittable, he allowed a solo home run to Murphy. In total, Skubal needed 28 pitches to get through the frame, in which he walked a pair of Braves. But he preserved a 2-1 lead for L.A., which soon built a four-run cushion.In the bottom half of that inning, Hernández singled, and Kyle Tucker smacked a cathartic round-tripper off righty AJ Smith-Shawver. Hernández and Tucker both went 2-for-4 on the day.Tucker, an All-Star in four straight seasons with the Houston Astros (2022-24) and Chicago Cubs (2025) before signing a four-year, $240 million deal with L.A. in this past offseason, hit a meager.233 with the Dodgers in the regular season. He's well on his way to exorcising those demons in the playoffs.Also in the bottom of the sixth, Max Muncy recorded his 17th career postseason home run — the most in Dodgers history — by pulling a solo shot over the right-field wall to put L.A. ahead 5-1.The @Dodgers are teeing off 🚀Max Muncy blasts the third homer of the day for LA! pic.twitter.com/JNDTToh9qN— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2026 From there, the score didn't budge until the ninth, when Albies' big fly cut Atlanta's deficit to two runs. But lefty Tanner Scott bounced back to induce back-to-back groundouts. And right-hander Evan Phillips shut the door on any potential comeback.Follow along with Yahoo Sports for in-game updates, highlights and more from Game 1 of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Braves.