Walker Buehler threw 70 pitches over just four innings in Friday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants, and the Los Angeles Dodgers later announced his early exit was due to right elbow discomfort.
Buehler went into the start looking to get on track and coming off the shortest start of his career at 2.1 innings. Like with his other outings this season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Buehler threw an encouraging bullpen session leading up to the start.
That didn’t lend to an overwhelmingly dominant performance, but Buehler’s four-seam fastball velocity held throughout the outing. He finished with six strikeouts and allowed three runs on four hits, including a solo homer to Darin Ruf.
Buehler exited with the Dodgers trailing by just one run of what wound up being a 7-2 defeat. Buehler was tabbed with the loss, falling to 6-3 with a 4.02 ERA on the season.
When discussing his elbow trouble after the game, Buehler said he will undergo an MRI on Saturday morning and felt the pain for multiple innings, via SportsNet LA:
“A lot of guys in this clubhouse have dealt with stuff with their elbows. It’s part of this game, so whatever it is, we’ll handle it. All the faith in our medical staff and whatnot. … I threw a breaking ball in the third inning and it kind of grabbed a little bit and kind of didn’t go away. I tried to pitch through it to see if it would pop away. Sometimes that’ll happen, but it didn’t happen for me tonight.”
It’s plausible Buehler could be experiencing elbow discomfort because of recent exhaustive bullpen sessions in effort to overcome his struggles.
Buehler underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after being selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2015 MLB Draft.
Buehler felt disappointment from Dodgers clubhouse
After allowing four runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates over six innings, Buehler expressed mounting frustration over his performances this season and a belief teammates had grown disappointed.
“We’ve kind of talked forever about my delivery, and it’s kind of a high-maintenance delivery,” Buehler said at the end of May. “Obviously I’m not 6’6 and 250 pounds. I’m a smaller guy and I’ve got to generate somehow.
“There’s mechanical stuff, mental stuff, usage and kind of all these puzzle pieces. At the end of the day I just want to be better and help our team win games. I feel like I haven’t really been doing that to the level that I want to.
“I’ve had some success, mostly because our team is really good and kind of covered my ass. We’ll get better and keep working. I’m not a guy that really hangs onto stuff too long, but yeah, I’m frustrated.
“I know guys are frustrated in there at kind of what I’m producing, and that sucks.”
Are you following Dodger Blue on Instagram? It’s the best way to see exclusive coverage from games and events, get your questions answered, and more!
