Walker Buehler spoke with plenty of confidence in terms of how he would fare Monday, and then went out and backed that up to help lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies that clinched a sixth consecutive National League West title.
With the win, the Dodgers are now set to face the Atlanta Braves in the NL Division Series, with Game 1 coming at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.
Like did throughout much of the season, Buehler pitched without any signs of nerves or anxiousness. He retired the first six batters faced and worked around hitting Ian Desmond with a pitch and a walk in the third inning.
It wasn’t until the sixth that Buehler lost his no-hitter on Charlie Blackmon’s single that found a hole in the shift up the middle. Buehler induced a pair of groundouts to strand Blackmon and wound up getting through 6.2 shutout innings.
He even helped his cause at the plate with a two-out RBI single in the sixth that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0. Their lead to that point was built on a pair of two-run home runs by Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy.
Bellinger’s blast was a back-breaker for German Marquez, as he started the fourth inning with a strikeout. However, Muncy reached on the passed ball. Marquez then struck out Manny Machado and Yasmani Grandal before allowing the home run to Bellinger.
Marquez finished with nine strikeouts against two walks over 4.2 innings pitched. The loss was his first in three starts against the Dodgers this season.
If there was some concern for the Dodgers, it would lie with Kenley Jansen surrendering back-to-back home runs before recording an out in the ninth.
