The Los Angeles Dodgers fell 7-2 to the San Francisco Giants in Friday’s series opener at Oracle Park, but more concerning was Walker Buehler being prematurely removed from his start due to right elbow discomfort.
Buehler threw 70 pitches over just four innings and exited with the Dodgers trailing by one run. He was tabbed with the loss, falling to 6-3 with a 4.02 ERA on the season. Buehler went into the outing looking to get back on track after logging only 2.1 innings in his last start against the New York Mets.
The right-hander underwent an MRI on Saturday morning that revealed a strained flexor tendon and prompted the Dodgers to put Buehler on the 15-day injured list.
Buehler felt pain for multiple innings but stopped short of blaming his elbow trouble for recent struggles. After giving up two runs in the second inning, he bounced back by striking out the side in the third. Buehler then allowed a solo home run to Darin Ruf in the fourth inning but believed it was a byproduct of making a bad pitch rather than elbow discomfort, via SportsNet LA:
“I think the velocity was fine and I was spinning the ball fine. I left a slider over the plate to Ruf. I wish I wouldn’t have. I wish none of the pitches would’ve hurt before, or after it, or whatever. I’m not a person that’s going to blame that. I didn’t throw the ball great. I felt a lot better than I have previously and was kind of encouraged with the way the ball was coming out of my hand even though I gave up a couple runs there in the second.”
Coupled with the shortest start of his career last week, Buehler has failed to go at least five innings in consecutive outings for only the second time. The first instance was when Buehler went 2.2 and four innings in back-to-back starts to close out the 2020 regular season.
Why did Buehler experience elbow discomfort?
While elbow pain can be a precursor to Tommy John surgery, it’s plausible Buehler could be experiencing discomfort because of recent exhaustive bullpen sessions in effort to overcome his struggles.
Buehler underwent Tommy John shortly after being selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2015 MLB Draft. He declined to specify if the latest elbow trouble was related to the operation.
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