Walker Buehler allowed only three hits over six scoreless innings, struck out seven and walked none during a 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds Saturday.
His first two starts in his return from a second Tommy John surgery were a bit wobbly, but Walker Buehler, the notoriously demanding right-hander who can be as hard on himself as any major leaguer, didn’t seem to be growing overly impatient or frustrated with his performance, at least in the eyes of his manager.
“It takes time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Buehler, the erstwhile ace who had gone almost 23 months between big-league starts before his May 6 return. “What his ceiling is, we’re going to find out, but to get back to that 2019 or 2020 Walker … I think he understands it’s going to be a process.”
That process was accelerated in a huge way on Saturday night when Buehler gave up just three hits over six scoreless innings, struck out seven and walked none in a 4-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds before a crowd of 49,239 in Dodger Stadium.
Roberts said before the game that Buehler, who was tagged for six earned runs and 11 hits, including three home runs, in 7 ⅓ innings of his first two starts against Miami and San Diego, needed to improve the command of all his pitches.
Buehler threw 55 of his 78 pitches for strikes and threw first-pitch strikes to 11 of 21 batters Saturday night. Though he induced only five swinging strikes, an indication he hasn’t quite recaptured his vintage 2019-2020 form, Buehler got 18 called strikes.
He used a knuckle-curve that averaged 78.5 mph to end three of his strikeouts, a slider that averaged 81.9 mph to end two of strikeouts and a fastball that averaged 94.9 mph and a cut-fastball that averaged 91.
