LOS ANGELES – Admitting that he was running out of patience in a not-so-long wait to become a dominating pitcher again, it turns out that was actually Walker Buehler’s competitive side returning to the forefront again.
Buehler went six scoreless innings in his third start since returning from a nearly two-year absence after elbow surgery and his first since saying last week that the “happy-to-be-here thing” had about run its course.
The Dodgers 4-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds gave Buehler his first win since two years ago this week. More importantly, it announced that Buehler is ready to take charge after a two-game feeling out process upon his return.
“To get back to 2019 or 2020 Walker, it’s a process,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game, addressing Buehler’s desire to improve. “I think he understands that but as a competitor, you expect the best out of yourself every time you take the mound.”
It wasn’t as if Buehler had much margin for error Saturday. The Dodgers were held scoreless over the first three innings and put together two runs in the fourth on an RBI single from Andy Pages and a run-scoring ground out from Gavin Lux.
Disaster nearly ensued with Buehler on the mound in the fifth inning when the Reds’ Jake Fraley drilled a one-out line drive to left-center field only for left fielder Miguel Vargas to cut off Pages in center, with the ball falling to the ground for a gift triple. The young outfielders narrowly avoided a violent collision.
Buehler rode to the rescue as he escaped the jam by retiring Jeimer Candelario on a pop out and ended the threat by getting Jonathan India on a ground out to second base.
The Dodgers immediately added their third run of the game in the bottom of the fifth when Miguel Rojas doubled with one out and Freddie Freeman lined a two-out RBI single to center field. Teoscar Hernandez added an RBI single in the eighth.
Buehler closed out his longest outing of the season so far when he struck out Elly De La Cruz and Mike Ford to end the top of the sixth inning. He finished with a season-high 78 pitches, but that was just one more than his 77 in each of his first two appearances.
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Buehler’s seven strikeouts were one more than his first two outings combined and he didn’t allow a walk. He hit as high as 97.1 mph on the radar gun with a third-inning pitch and sat consistently in the 94-95 mph range.
The bullpen took over from there as Michael Grove and Daniel Hudson each pitched a perfect inning and J.P Feyereisen finished off a stretch of 11 consecutive outs to end the game.
Feyereisen earned his second save, with three different Dodgers pitchers earning saves since Evan Phillips went on the injured list May 5 with a hamstring strain.
More to come on this story
