Walker Buehler pitched his shortest outing of the season as the high-powered New York Mets offense finally broke through after scoring just one run in the previous two games to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers by a score of 9-4.
Buehler has been vocal about his inconsistent outings and feels he has been letting his teammates down in his recent starts.
That trend continued as Francisco Lindor belted a curveball into the right field seats to put the Mets up 1-0 before fans could even settle into their seat in the first inning.
The Dodgers rallied to take the lead in the second inning when Justin Turner started the inning with a walk, and after a strikeout, Hanser Alberto singled to put runners at the corners.
Cody Bellinger then reached on a fielder’s choice that drove in Turner to tie the game. That was followed by another strikeout and a walk by Gavin Lux to load the bases with two outs.
The Dodgers then jumped out in front as Mookie Betts continued his red-hot hitting with a double to clear the bases and put them up 4-1 before the inning ended.
However, that lead was short-lived as the Mets answered by scoring four runs of their own in the third to take the lead, started by back-to-back walks and followed by a double from Starling Marte and a home run from Pete Alonso.
Following Alonso’s home run, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Buehler from the game, closing his book with just 2.1 innings pitched, five earned runs, three strikeouts and two walks.
Justin Bruihl relieved Buehler and got out of the inning, but Eduardo Escobar hit a solo home run in the next inning to put the Mets up by two. In the seventh inning, the Mets added to their lead with a three-run home run from Alonso off Brusdar Graterol to go up 9-4. The Mets’ first baseman finished the day 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI.
Roberts attempted to use Zach McKinstry to pitch the ninth and he was announced as the pitcher, but after a delay and before he threw a warmup pitch, the home plate umpire announced a position player can’t pitch unless a team is trailing by six runs or more.
Evan Phillips then quickly warmed up and came into the game to pitch the last inning without allowing a run.
The Dodgers’ offense failed to produce most of the night outside of the second inning. They picked up just six hits in the game and went hitless between Freddie Freeman’s single in the fifth inning until Freeman singled again in the seventh.
Trea Turner also saw his 26-game hitting streak come to an end with an 0-for-4 night.
Buehler’s off-speed pitches hit around
Perhaps the most concerning part about Buehler’s outing is the Mets were able to hit his off-speed pitches well, with the double and a home run coming off his slider, and the first homer coming off his curveball.
Previously, his fastball has been the pitch getting hit and he has been relying on his secondary offerings to get outs, and to this point, that has been successful for him.
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