The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second straight game as they shut out the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0, backed by a phenomenal outing from Walker Buehler.
After missing nearly two years due to injury, Buehler has struggled through his first two starts, pitching a combined 7.1 innings with six earned runs entering his third start.
But everything seemed to be clicking for him this time out as he looked almost back to his pre-injury ace form. Buehler ended up pitching six shutout innings while striking out seven, walking no one and giving up just three hits.
He was also efficient all game, throwing just 78 total pitches, and 55 of them were strikes. He was a completely different pitcher than what he showed through his rehab and first two starts, which is an encouraging sign for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers offense wasn’t a strong point, but they did enough to win the game. That started in the fourth inning when Andy Pages hit an RBI single following a walk from Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández.
Gavin Lux then grounded out on what was a swinging bunt, which allowed the second run of the game to score.
L.A. added another in the fifth inning when Miguel Rojas doubled and Freeman followed with an RBI single, giving them a 3-0 lead. And just for insurance, Freeman doubled in the bottom of the eighth, and Hernández drove him in to make it 4-0.
Following Buehler, Michael Grove and Daniel Hudson each pitched a perfect inning. J.P. Feyereisen closed out the game with a perfect inning as well.
With the victory, Walker Buehler recorded his first win at Dodger Stadium in exactly two years.
Walker Buehler confident in his ability to help Dodgers
After his last outing, Buehler admitted he is still a long way from getting back to his previous All-Star form, and questioned if he can get back to that again, but he remained confident in his ability to get hitters out.
Buehler previously estimated he would need at least three or four outings to work on things before he starts to feel more like himself on the mound. If tonight showed anything, it’s that Buehler may be closer than he thinks.
But even if he doesn’t fully get back to an ace level, the Dodgers don’t need him to be that pitcher thanks to their offseason acquisitions of Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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