Propelled by a dominant outing from Walker Buehler, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their sixth consecutive National League West title after defeating the Colorado Rockies, 5-2, in Monday’s Game 163 tiebreaker at Dodger Stadium.
The rookie concluded his regular season campaign on a strong note, yielding only one hit and three walks in 6.2 scoreless innings of work. He struck out three batters on 93 pitches and managed to lower his ERA to 2.62 in the process.
Buehler even helped his own cause at the plate, going 1-for-2 with a clutch, two-out RBI single in the sixth inning to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0.
After delivering perhaps his most impressive outing in the Majors, the 24-year-old revealed that he knew from the start he would lead the Dodgers to victory over the Rockies, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I won’t say, ‘Yes,’” the rookie right-hander said, pausing for effect. “But, yes.”
However, the outing nonetheless came with some nerves:
“I was shaking the whole first inning. It’s hard to explain it,” Buehler said of his excitement about pitching in such an important game. “Honestly, I’m pretty happy it was a day game so it didn’t build up on me for too long.”
While Buehler admitted to battling some early-game jitters, it was certainly difficult to tell from afar. He went 5.1 innings before issuing his first hit — a single off the bat of Charlie Blackmon in the sixth.
Clayton Kershaw was especially impressed with Buehler’s performance, pointing out his confidence and demeanor that separates him from other pitchers of the same age group.
With the outing, Buehler improved to 8-5 on the year. In addition to his MLB-low 2.62 ERA among rookie starting pitchers, he compiled a 3.04 FIP and 0.96 WHIP with 151 strikeouts against 37 walks across 137.1 innings (24 games, 23 starts).
