Much like with Julio Urias in 2016, the Los Angeles Dodgers have called on the organization’s top pitching prospect, this time Walker Buehler, much earlier than anticipated. One difference between the two is Buehler made his MLB debut the season prior to being forced into the rotation.
Just as they did with Urias, Buehler was optioned back to the Minors on multiple occasions before being given a semi-permanent spot in the rotation. The young right-hander has continued to grow with each outing, and on Tuesday was working on a perfect game.
That was broken up by Gerardo Parra’s leadoff home run in the fifth inning, which was followed by a Trevor Story line drive that went off Buehler’s ribs. He recovered to make the play but then hunched over and dropped to the ground in obvious pain.
Buehler was checked on by a trainer and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts before remaining in the game. He was sent for x-rays following the loss, which somewhat remarkably came back negative.
That the 23-year-old didn’t come out of the game drew praise from Roberts, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Taking the ball off the ribs off the bat of [Trevor] Story, willing himself to stay in there and giving us two more innings was huge,” said Roberts. “A young player to have that much fight was very inspirational. We’re learning a lot pretty quickly about him. Unfortunately, the bats at home, we didn’t get any production to pick him up.”
Buehler finished with a career-high seven innings pitched, and allowed just the one run on two hits while recording six strikeouts against zero walks. It was just the second career start in which Buehler did dole out a free pass.
Following the line-drive comebacker, he retired eight of the next nine batters faced.
