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David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior Writer
NEW YORK — Sometimes, one pitch in the second inning can save a baseball game. Sometimes, it can salvage an entire season for a player.
In the bottom of the second of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night, Walker Buehler faced Francisco Lindor, bases loaded, two outs, Buehler’s Los Angeles Dodgers leading Lindor’s New York Mets 2-0.
It has been a trying season for Buehler, the one-time postseason star who returned after sitting out most of 2022 and all of 2023 following the second Tommy John surgery of his career. He made 16 starts in the regular season — and won once, posting a 5.38 ERA. This is a pitcher who won 16 games in 2021 with a 2.47 ERA, one who threw seven scoreless innings in a World Series game as a rookie and gave up three runs over a 21-inning stretch in the 2020 postseason when the Dodgers won it all.
He’s in the playoff rotation now only because the Dodgers didn’t have any other healthy options. In his start against the Padres in the NL Division Series, he gave up six runs in one inning.
Wednesday night, the count ran full to Lindor, as Buehler stuck with his four-seam fastball and knuckle-curve. With the count 3-2, catcher Will Smith called for the curve. Buehler threw it, it dived wonderfully below Lindor’s knees, and the Mets star swung and missed.
It’s not the pitch Buehler would have turned to when he was at his peak as one of the hardest-throwing young right-handers in the game.
“Oh, in 2018, 2019, 2020, I would have thrown a fastball. Yeah,” he said after the game.
The Dodgers rolled from there to an 8-0 victory and 2-1 series lead — their remarkable fourth shutout in five playoff games, after blanking the Padres in the final two games of the NLDS and the Mets in Game 1 of this series. Buehler and four relievers combined for the shutout this time as the Dodgers matched the 1905 New York Giants and 2020 Atlanta Braves in throwing four shutouts over a five-game postseason span.
Though Buehler’s final line of four scoreless innings might not enter Dodgers lore, he’ll take it at this point of his season.
“Honestly, the only point of pride I’ve had in the past couple of months has been trying to get deep in the games and be efficient,” he said. “To only throw four innings is like the complete opposite of that. But I’m proud just for a different reason in terms of being able to get through some big spots and tough spots.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to Buehler’s season and agreed the game turned with the Lindor strikeout.
“I think it’s been a lot of lessons that he’s had to learn, and appreciating, understanding the pitcher he is today,” Roberts said. “And also appreciating the fact that you just can’t give in to Lindor in that moment. Right there, that was the pitch of the game. Obviously, the crowd was into it. They were gaining momentum. To get the breaking ball down below the zone and get a great hitter out was huge. And I think that just kind of speaks to experience.”
On a cold — 56 degrees at game time — and windy night at Citi Field, the weather might have helped Buehler record a season-best 18 swings and misses, matching his career playoff high. He had reached double figures only three times all season, and in his five-inning outing against the Padres in the NLDS had only eight.
“I think the cold really affects the ball weirdly,” Buehler said. “The ball moves really well here, or kind of always has. I think the cold just makes the ball act a little bit funky.”
Facing a Mets lineup that featured seven right-handed batters, Buehler also relied more heavily on his sweeper than he has of late, throwing it a season-high 21 times out of his 90 pitches. He escaped a two-on jam in the third inning by getting J.D. Martinez to wave helplessly at a 2-2 sweeper.
“I guess it was the colder weather,” Smith said. “It was moving a lot. It was just consistent-count situations where he just kind of needed to lean on it. I felt like it was working, and it was, so lean on it a little more than normal.”
The Mets agreed with the cold-weather assessment.
“From the last time I faced him, yeah, his ball was moving more,” Lindor said. “I feel like he executed his pitches. He made me chase when he wanted me to chase, and he threw strikes when he wanted to throw strikes. Bottom line, it came down to who executed the most, and he did that.”
After Buehler’s departure, the bullpen took over — Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen and then rookie Ben Casparius for the final two innings. Maybe they, too, benefited from the weather.
“Our relievers that came in, I was looking at their big-boy metrics,” Buehler said. “I don’t know the crosswinds and what happens, but all five of my pitches were kind of a little bit bigger or weirder or acted different than normal. I don’t think it was just a curveball. Yeah, it’s just an interesting environment to pitch in here in the cold.”
The Dodgers will take it.
Kiké Hernández‘s two-run home run and then Shohei Ohtani‘s towering three-run blast allowed Roberts not to use Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson, two of his other top relievers. No doubt, we’ll see plenty of that bullpen again in Game 4 on Thursday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting and not expected to go very deep into the game.
Until then, Buehler can enjoy playing a key role in an important Dodgers victory.
“I try not to give into in the playoffs especially and sometimes that leads to a pitch-count problem or walking more guys than you typically would,” he said. “But this game in October is about having zeros, and I’m proud of the fact that I was able to do that four times.”
Source: www.espn.com