The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday to save themselves from a series sweep in an 11-7 win.
The game was started by Walker Buehler, but he lasted just three innings in his shortest outing of the season.
Buehler had to work around some defensive mistakes from his supporting cast, undoubtedly adding to his workload early in the game. He required 78 pitches to make it through three innings, allowing seven hits, four runs (three earned) with three strikeouts.
The veteran detailed his frustration with his start against the Pirates, taking note of his elevated 4.82 ERA over 28 innings pitched, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It’s high,” Buehler said, asked to assess his frustration level at this point of his comeback. “At the end of the day, I want to be good, I want to help our team. And five out of six (starts), I’ve kind of hurt our team. So I’m gonna give myself a couple more to get myself on track and then kind of see where we’re really at.
“But it’s hard when, physically, I know the tools are there and I know there’s ways that I can go about doing this better. Yeah, it just sucks. It sucks to be the worst guy on a staff. It sucks to keep putting your team in a hole, especially when they go up 4-0 in the first inning for you. So, yeah, it’s just tough.”
The offense backed Buehler up, to his appreciation. But he allowed seven hard hit balls to the 19 batters he faced. One of which was the game-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales on a four-seam fastball up in the zone:
“I probably made six or seven pitches that I really like in that at-bat,” Buehler said. “And then, even the location on that pitch, 95 percent of the time, I’m very happy with where that ball was thrown and the action and velocity and whatever. And he just put a good swing on it. It sucks that it happened.”
The Dodgers haven’t lost because of Buehler’s starts, as he’s only allowed, at most, three earned runs in any start.
Buehler continuing to get a feel for his stuff, command, and cadence this season is a work in progress. However, his early data on his four-seam fastball leaves a ton to be desired if he stays on the same trend throughout the season.
One area Walker Buehler could fix
Fixing defensive miscues isn’t something Buehler can change or account for, but he can absolutely look at his pitch usage.
In his return in 2024, his usage is peculiar. Buehler’s four-seam fastball is among the worst in Major League Baseball with an .813 slugging percentage allowed when throwing his primary pitch.
A huge bump in his usage is his sinker, which has graded out well this season. Buehler could, and should, drop his four-seam and throw a heavy sinker mix, much like Gavin Stone has done to transform himself into one of the Dodgers’ best arms thus far.
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