Tarik Skubal gets brutal Jac Caglianone treatment in first Dodgers home start

The Los Angeles Dodgers, in the middle of a brutal stretch in which they’ve lost eight of their past 10 games, were hopeful that they can put this skid far away in the rearview mirror. Big trade acquisition Tarik Skubal even drew the start on Monday for the first of a three-game set against the Kansas City Royals, a team that he’s awfully familiar with having spent the majority of his career to this point with an AL Central club in the Detroit Tigers.

However, the Royals proved that they were familiar with Skubal as well. Kansas City has tagged the newest Dodgers star for three runs through the first three innings of the ballgame — with Jac Caglianone hammering a hanging slider from Skubal in an 0-2 count for a moonshot towards the right-field bleachers.

Jac Caglianone crushes his 3rd home run in as many games pic.twitter.com/71otGEHW4Q

— MLB (@MLB) August 11, 2026

Skubal is one of those southpaw pitchers who are better against right-handed batters, and it did not help whatsoever that he left a juicy slider right at the heart of the plate for Caglianone to turn on.

For Caglianone, meanwhile, this is an unlikely home run for him to hit. He entered the night with a worse batting average against same-sided pitching, and he hasn’t even hit a home run in an 0-2 count for his entire big-league career to this point.

Suffice to say, plenty of factors had to come together for the Royals slugger to get the upper hand against the former Tigers star. For the Dodgers, seeing Skubal not yet be at his best has to be a bit concerning, although they didn’t exactly acquire him just so they could win games in August anyway.

Skubal’s night was over after just five innings of work. During his time on the mound against the Royals, he allowed three earned runs on four hits and two walks, striking out six. At the time of writing, the Dodgers are down 3-2 to the Royals in the bottom of the sixth inning.

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