That was a tough loss yesterday. We had our newest potential ace-in-the-making get on the mound to try to finish out the series, but it was not to be. One singular inning was the cause. Walker Buehler, during the second frame, struggled. He just couldn't find the plate. It was like a temporary case of the 'yips' that resulted in walking the bases loaded and throwing a 3-2 'meat-ball' that found it's way into the left field seats for a grand slam. After that, he settles down and proceeded to get the next ten batters out -- four on strike outs. Per Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider:
“It’s on me,” Buehler said. “I’ll fix it, and we’ll be better, and that’s it.”
...Today's game starts at 1:30 PM and Rich Hill will face off against Game 1 starter Mike Foltynewicz.
“It takes a lot of maturity and focus,” manager Dave Roberts said of Buehler’s recovery. “So he did lose his focus, I think, in that point in time, but again, for him in a big game like this to go back out there and throw up a couple more zeroes, that was huge for us, and we had a chance to win the baseball game. So Walker’s coming back and giving us five innings right there, it was big.”
Photo above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2018 at Dodger Insider. Below are more links to check out:
- This Day in Dodgers History: In 1956 Yankees hurler Don Larson threw his World Series Game 5 Perfect Game against the Dodgers, 2-0. He threw 97 pitches, struck out seven and walked none. In 1957 Walter O'Malley officially announced that the Dodgers would be moving to Los Angeles for the next upcoming season. In 1959 the Dodgers defeated the White Sox in Game 6 of the World Series to win their second championship. Larry Sherry came in to pitch 5.2 innings in relief to win the game, 9-3. In 2009 the Dodgers win Game 2, 3-2, of the NLCS against the Cardinals on a come-from-behind walkoff single by Mark Loretta. The victory was set up by an Matt Holliday two-out error on a sinking line drive in left field that gave the Dodgers an opportunity to rally. You can watch Holliday's flub here, and you can watch a condensed version of the game here.
- Happy Birthday, Jim Conway, Jimmy Peoples, Paul Schreiber, Lee Rogers, Enos Cabell, Mike Morgan & Olmedo Sáenz!