The Los Angeles Dodgers ended their homestand in historic fashion on Wednesday with a 14-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. The club scored 11 of their runs in the first inning, which marked the most in L.A. franchise history for the regular season.
Walker Buehler benefitted from the early run support despite not having his best stuff. He nonetheless improved to 4-0 on the season, allowing three runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts in six innings of work. He’s gone at least six frames in each outing this year.
“I felt really good going into it,” Buehler said of his start. “In the bullpen I felt good and then you get that long inning and it changes a few things. Just trying to stay competitive and stay in there as long as I can.
“Feel good about that, but at the end of the day I don’t like giving up runs — and especially home runs. So still some things to work on, but happy to get a win before we get out of here.”
Long innings are never ideal for pitchers, but Buehler made his best attempt to stay loose by constantly moving around. “You move around and throw some weighted balls or whatnot. There’s only so much you can do,” he explained.
“It’s almost like you’re starting a second game. I kind of struggled at the beginning of the second and found it out of the stretch, so got out of there clean. And then you can kind of focus in and try to go out there like it was 0-0, or 1-0, I guess at that point.
“It’s an interesting deal and something that we all have to deal with, especially when we have an offense like ours.”
Buehler approached his big lead by both acknowledging it and telling himself the score was closer than reality. “It’s a little bit of both,” he said.
“You get even more mad when you don’t throw strike one, and when you walk guys it’s even more frustrating. But at the end of the day I want to be a little selfish at times and try and throw the ball well.
“But also get us through the game and still try and go relatively deep. Getting through the sixth was a big thing. Now we’ve got an off day and a big series this weekend.”
Buehler tallies second hit of season
In addition to notching a fourth consecutive quality start, Buehler contributed with his bat as well, hitting a two-run double off Tyler Webb in the bottom of the fourth. It was his second hit in 24 at-bats this season.
“It’s just kind of blind squirrel finds a nut thing up there for me,” Buehler joked. “But I’m trying, man. I try and touch it.”
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