Despite struggling to get anything going offensively for most of the game, the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied late to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, in 10 innings at Dodger Stadium.
Walker Buehler was excellent in his first outing off the injured list, limiting the Diamondbacks to just three baserunners over five shutout innings. “I felt good,” he said.
“I think the offspeed stuff wasn’t quite where it might’ve been against Colorado or before the IL thing, but that happens in a season. I don’t think that’s a result of any of that stuff. I didn’t have it as much, but was happy with the fastball. Glad to put up some zeros, the heroics late and get out of here with a win.”
As Buehler noted, he found success with his fastball, notching six strikeouts on the night. “Yeah, I think most of them were on the heater. I think that’s kind of indicative of how I pitch,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s anything new. That’s probably the most important pitch for me, so had that one to give me some comfort and kind of scramble to get through five.”
Given that Wednesday was Buehler’s first appearance in almost two weeks, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts felt it was to manage his workload. The right-hander was pulled after throwing 71 pitches through five innings.
“All that stuff kind of factors into it,” Buehler said of his short leash. “At the end of the day the manager’s decision is what it is. I’ve been a lot more upset coming out of a game.
“Coming off the IL, 75 pitches roughly, I don’t know if I’ll necessary be on a pitch count. I just think kind of the stress in that second inning and trying to be careful with it, was kind of the motives.”
Roberts confirmed that the plan was to cap Buehler at 75 pitches. “That’s what we were kind of thinking,” Roberts said. “It was 11 or 12 days since he’s pitched, so just to kind of manage him and get out feeling good about things.”
Roberts confident Buehler is past blister issue
After a successful outing against the Diamondbacks, Roberts is optimistic that Buehler’s past blister issue will not resurface. “I am,” Roberts said of his confidence that Buehler’s blister problem is behind him.
“Got to give credit to the trainers and Walker buying into what we’re trying to do to take care of him. So I thought he threw the baseball really well and certainly expect him to make his next start.”
Buehler said this was his first time ever dealing with a blister.
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