The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Seattle Mariners by a final score of 6-3 on Tuesday night. Walker Buehler did not have his worst outing by any means, but he struggled at times. Buehler, who is still trying to find his rhythm after returning from injury, surrendered three runs across four innings of work. He also walked three and only recorded one strikeout.
“In general, getting to 0-2 is a weird victory for me right now,” Buehler said after Tuesday's game, via SportsNet LA. “I feel like I was either 0-2 or 2-0 the whole night. Made a couple bad pitches… I'm so tired of saying that I feel closer, but I kind of explained to people I felt like a bad version of myself in '21. I think that's as close to the me of old as I've felt this year.
“I didn't throw the ball well, our team really helped me out and got us back in the game. I don't want to sound too optimistic about it just because of the results. I came out of that one feeling pretty good about where I'm at.”
Walker Buehler moves forward
Buehler returned from Tommy John surgery earlier in 2024 before landing on the injured list once again. He returned for the second time on August 14. Rust was to be expected given the injury trouble that Buehler has dealt with over the past couple of seasons. However, he currently has a forgettable 6.09 ERA across his 10 starts for the Dodgers.
LA wants to give him more chances to figure things out. If Buehler continues to struggle, though, the Dodgers may need to make a difficult decision. Los Angeles has serious World Series aspirations and they cannot afford to send an unreliable pitcher to the mound to start games in October.
A move to the bullpen may emerge as an option down the road. The ideal scenario for both Buehler and the Dodgers is that the veteran pitcher finds his footing and begins performing at a high level once again.
“Now, I've been saying this, ‘I gotta perform, I gotta perform.' I feel like I can actually perform now,” Buehler continued. “I'm going to have five, six days to throw and feel the same thing that I've been feeling the past three or four days. I feel better about it. This is the power of kind of being on a team like this. I can throw the ball not great… It's hard to say, ‘keep sticking with me.' But I feel a lot better about it. Obviously it's nice not to lose every game that I start.”
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Dodgers' starting rotation questions
Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tony Gonsolin are currently on the injured list. LA acquired Jack Flaherty ahead of the MLB trade deadline and recently re-called Bobby Miller from Triple-A. Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone and Buehler are the Dodgers' other rotation options at the moment.
In other words, Buehler's starting spot is likely safe for now. As pitchers begin returning from injury, though, that may not be the case unless Buehler begins pitching at a more consistent level.
