As the Los Angeles Dodgers made their surge during the second half of the season, it coincided with Walker Buehler emerging as a right-handed ace to pair with Clayton Kershaw. The club has regularly adjusted their starting rotation and ensured Buehler started in key series.
He was particularly dominant in back-to-back outings against the St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies, allowing a combined two unearned runs on five hits while recording 21 strikeouts over 14 innings pitched.
Buehler had a career-high nine strikeouts on Aug. 22, then twice matched it before setting a new career-best mark with 12 strikeouts during the aforementioned two-start stretch.
On Tuesday, he faced the Arizona Diamondbacks for a second time this month. Unlike the Sept. 2 game, only the Dodgers were playing for National League West implications.
Buehler held the Diamondbacks to two runs in six innings but expressed disappointment with his mechanics in the Dodgers’ walk-off loss, via Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times:
“That’s the way this game goes, especially in the National League, and I understand it,” Buehler said. “I got through six and I was going pretty good through five. … My mechanics weren’t perfect today. I didn’t execute the way that I really wanted to. Breaking ball wasn’t that sharp, but I threw some two-seamers and got some double-play balls when I needed it to keep my pitch count low to where I could kind of stay in that sixth inning and wear that. That’s the way the game goes.”
Buehler was efficient through much of his start, needing just 58 pitches to get through five shutout innings. He allowed a pair of one-out singles during that time, and in both cases followed it by inducing a double play.
He was one out away from maintaining the Dodgers’ 1-0 lead but ran into trouble when a single and walk put the tying and go-ahead runners on base. David Peralta cashed in on the opportunity, lining a two-run double that gave the Diamondbacks a lead.
The Dodgers responded to tie the game in the seventh inning, getting Buehler off the hook. They stranded a go-ahead runner that would have kept him in line for a potential win.
Nonetheless, the rookie is 7-5 this season with a 2.76 ERA.
