by Cary Osborne
Results-wise, it’s been a seesaw ride all season for Walker Buehler.
Saturday was a microcosm of it in the Dodgers’ 6–3 loss to the Rockies at Dodger Stadium.
Buehler allowed a two-out solo home run to Colorado’s Ryan McMahon in the top of the fifth inning. He struck out the next batter Michael Toglia swinging to end the frame.
He fell behind early in the game, but put batters away better than he has all season with a season-high 14 swings and miss.
Buehler still isn’t satisfied with it. But there’s enough in there on Saturday and from his last start on Sept. 15 in Atlanta (six innings, one earned run) to give the Dodgers the belief that big-game Buehler is still in there.
“This is as confident as I think that most importantly Walker is, and the most confident I’ve been in him this year,” said manager Dave Roberts.
Buehler allowed four runs, all earned, and five hits. He struck out a season-high nine to one walk.
His 33.7% called strike and whiff (CSW) percentage was his second-highest this season. Before the McMahon homer, Buehler retired nine batters in a row.
That’s the good.
It’s the early part of the game that continues to be difficult for the right-handed starter. Buehler fell behind 1–0 in the first inning. It’s the seventh time in 15 starts that Buehler has allowed at least one run in the first inning of a start.
He fell behind 3–0 after an Ezequiel Tovar two-run double. The Dodgers trailed 4–3 after McMahon’s home run.
“I think I’ve had some rough patches (this year) and really questioned if I have the stuff to compete, and tonight, I felt like I could compete, and just didn’t make the big pitch in the big spots, or kind of made little mistakes and in the big spots,” Buehler said.
Buehler’s ERA in innings one and two this season is 7.80. His ERA after the second inning is 4.02.
“He’s putting himself in some stress in the first inning, and we’ve got to figure out a way to kind of get that momentum,” Roberts said. “Because it does seem like the third, fourth and fifth inning, he sort of hits a stride.”
Buehler has completed five innings in each of his four starts this month — no small feat for a pitching staff that has collectively had its struggles this month, particularly early.
Now he has one more start in the regular season to build off of.
Dodger Offense Slowed Late
It was an odd night for the offense.
Mookie Betts hit a two-run home run in the third inning (№18 of the season), and rookie catcher Hunter Feduccia drove in his first Major League run with a single in the fourth. That tied the score 3–3.
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But after a Betts single in the fifth, the Dodgers went 0 for their next 11, yet still managed to put six baserunners on via walk, hit by pitch and a Rockies error.
The Dodgers, however, left 12 men on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and ninth innings.
Where They Stand
The Dodgers (92–63) hold a three game lead over the Padres in the National League West. Their magic number remains five with seven games left in the season. The Dodgers close out this three-game series with the Rockies (60–95) on Sunday at 1:10 p.m.
The seesaw swings the wrong way for Buehler and the Dodgers was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.