The Los Angeles Dodgers were three outs away from a World Series championship and with all other conventional options exhausted they called upon Walker Buehler to close out the ninth inning.
Buehler went on to retire the side in order and as a result became just the fourth player in World Series history to earn a win as a starting pitcher and record a save in the same series, joining the likes of Madison Bumgarner, Catfish Hunter and Jack Billingham.
There were a specific series of events that needed to happen for Buehler to have the opportunity to close out Game 5 of the World Series for the Dodgers. As the game progressed it became a realistic possibility as options in the Dodgers bullpen dwindled with every passing inning.
During an appearance on “The Just Baseball Show,” Buehler explained his conflicted feelings as his wish slowly became reality:
“A lot of things had to happen that weren’t necessarily good for us, for me to get in the game. It’s also a weird mental thing. You’re out there and you don’t really want to be overtly positive when weird stuff starts to happen.
“Jack (Flaherty) is a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher, goes an inning and two-thirds, or two innings; whatever it was, I forget. I love Jack. Jack and I have been buddies for a long time. I don’t want that to happen. You’re out there and stuff happens, you’re like, ‘Uh oh. That’s good for me if I want to get in this game but it’s bad for our team.’ Just a weird mental thing.”
The first domino that needed to fall happened the night before as the Dodgers utilized four relievers in a bullpen game.
Game 5 starter Jack Flaherty only lasting 1.1 innings required the Dodgers to employ their last six available relievers before the ninth inning. And even with that, manager Dave Roberts needed to push Blake Treinen to get five key outs before Buehler could earn the save.
Further complicating matters was Buehler had been the Dodgers’ probable starter if the World Series went to a winner-take-all Game 7.
Walker Buehler reveals frustrating incident
Before he was able to deliver five scoreless innings in his Game 3 start, Buehler needed to work around an early obstacle during his routine.
Buehler was in the midst of his warmup throws when the Yankee Stadium lights went out because Fat Joe was going to perform. That required Buehler to adjust on the fly, and he let the umpires know the situation was unacceptable.
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