Walker Buehler made his return to the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers after spending some time on the 15-day injured list to work on correcting some issues.
Buehler has had a tough time returning from his second career Tommy John surgery, like many other pitchers have before him.
Prior to going on the IL, he owned a 5.84 ERA and 1.51 WHIP through eight starts.
On Wednesday, he was only able to go 3.1 innings, allowing four runs on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts. While only one run was earned, he was fortunate to only allow four runs total to begin with.
Buehler was frustrated with his command during the outing, and he’s still looking to find a way to clean up the issues he’s been dealing with, he said via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“A lot of near-misses. A lot of bad pitches in bad spots,” Buehler said. “The Bauers homer, trying to go down away and miss up in. The Turang miss (a second-inning triple) was not good enough.
“Just frustrating. Not getting ahead kind of the way I’m accustomed to and then even at certain times getting ahead and going 0-2 (to) 3-2 a few times. Stuff to clean up, stuff to figure out.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also saw the same issues with Buehler, most notably that his mechanics were off, which led to the poor results:
“Just from the eye test, he was out of sync tonight,” Roberts said. “I think his throw was inconsistent, and obviously the delivery was inconsistent. He didn’t get ‘Strike one’ very often tonight. He was working behind hitters, and then you’re trying to find your way back into counts. It’s hard to live like that.
“I think you see, he’s still searching.”
While it was another game for Buehler to forget, and the results certainly were far from encouraging, he did also have a positive takeaway from the outing:
“I feel closer than I did a couple months ago,” he said. “But at the end of the day, there’s a standard of performing here. I’m very aware of where I’m at in that standard. Keep plugging away. Wish isn’t the right word, or hope, but keep hopefully doing the right things and it’ll come together.”
Buehler’s season ERA now sits at 5.58 in 40.1 innings. Time is running out for the Dodgers to get him back on track, and it’s seeming more likely his time with the club is coming to a close.
Walker Buehler embraces Dodgers pressure
Buehler is well aware of his need to improve in order to help the Dodgers achieve their World Series goal, but he’s trying to embrace the pressure.
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