Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Walker Buehler never let the Nationals get in a groove. The right-hander used his bread and butter, his fastball, to pitch the Dodgers to a win, 4-1. We were one day away from an epic Buehler-Max Scherzer showdown, but the sim gods weren’t going to allow it.
Buehler was the story of the day. He turned in his best outing of the young season: 8 1/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 11 K, 100 pitches, 77 strikes.
In postgame comments to the Los Angeles Chronicle — an absolutely real newspaper that Bill Plaschke and TJ Simers should work for — Buehler said, “If the effort is there, the wins will come.“
Buehler channeling his inner Ray Liotta, apparently.
Kenley Jansen relieved Buehler in the ninth and recorded his fourth save of the season despite allowing a hit and issuing a walk.
At the plate, Cody Bellinger provided the offense. He launched a 3-run home run in the third inning off Wander Suero. It was his second homer of the campaign. Justin Turner and Corey Seager each had a hit and run scored, while Gavin Lux collected two hits of his own. Seager came out of the game early with groin tightness, but the injury isn’t considered to be serious. We’ll see about that. The game isn’t allowed to lie at least, right?
The Dodgers improve to 9-7 on the season, while the Nats fall to 7-8. After a day off Monday, the Dodgers welcome the Cardinals to LA. Clayton Kershaw (2-0, 3.63 ERA) opposes Jack Flaherty (0-1, 4.76 ERA).
