Walker Buehler on Thursday didn't have his best stuff when he took the mound for the Dodgers against the Pirates. His short outing at PNC Park followed a troubling trend for Buehler since his return from the IL, but amongst the bad there are some reasons for optimism.
In 3.0 innings Buehler allowed seven hits and four runs (three earned) with one walk and three strikeouts. It was his shortest outing of the season.
The biggest issue for Buehler on Thursday was his inability to get in front of hitters. He fell behind in the count to the first three batters he faced, and had more of the same issue in the second inning.
Still, Pittsburgh wasn't making much hard contact and the first run he allowed was an unearned run that reached base because of a throwing error by shortstop Mookie Betts. The inning was extended when Kiké Hernandez slipped while fielding a ground ball and made a second throwing error of the inning for the Dodgers. The runner, Edward Olivares, came around to score on a soft single to left by Jack Suwinski.
The third inning is where the wheels came off. Buehler managed to get ahead of the first three batters he faced, but allowed a singles to Ke'Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz. Olivares drove in a run with a hard-hit sacrifice fly that made it 4-2, and then Nick Gonzales smoked a homer to left one pitch after just missing a HR foul.
That inning continued when Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez hit a hard line drive to left center that was dropped by left fielder Miguel Vargas.
Overall it wasn't a good outing for Buehler. It's clear he's still having trouble locating his pitches, particularly his breaking stuff. Of his 78 pitches just 47 were strikes.
That'll be the key for him moving through the Summer and working his way back in. Once he has a better feel with his breaking pitches and is locating those better he'll get ahead in more counts and make his stuff more effective overall with hitters trying to stay alive rather than hitting from favorable counts.
