{"id":10711,"date":"2025-06-24T12:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/10711\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T12:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:32:10","slug":"walker-buehler-struggling-in-boston-after-dodgers-world-series-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/10711\/","title":{"rendered":"Walker Buehler struggling in Boston after Dodgers World Series run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Walker Buehler<\/a> owned our city. When the Dodgers<\/a> ran out of arms last fall, he instantly reimagined himself as a closer and slayed the mighty New York Yankees in the final inning of the World Series<\/a>. In the championship parade<\/a>, he donned the jersey of fellow Fall Classic hero Orel Hershiser<\/a>. He and catcher Will Smith<\/a> auctioned the ball used for the final out and donated the $414,000 in proceeds toward wildfire relief.<\/p>\n

From the day he arrived at Dodger Stadium as a rookie in 2017, Buehler exuded confidence. Tommy Lasorda<\/a> had to goad Hershiser into becoming a bulldog. Buehler always had been one.<\/p>\n

That made it shocking, frankly, to hear Buehler talk after the Angels dazed him<\/a> in a five-run first inning Monday at Angel Stadium. They beat him, he beat himself, whatever.<\/p>\n

But among the words uttered by the one-time Dodgers ace with the supreme confidence were these: \u201cI think I can still pitch in the major leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler\u2019s earned-run average is 6.29, the highest of any American League pitcher with at least 60 innings.<\/p>\n

That leaves the Red Sox with this unsettling dilemma: They are a game and a half out of an American League wild card \u2014 and only a game ahead of the Angels \u2014 so can they afford to keep Buehler in their starting rotation?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll talk about it,\u201d Boston manager Alex Cora said.<\/p>\n

\"Boston <\/p>\n

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Walker Buehler tosses his glove and cap into the dugout as he leaves the field after giving up five runs in the first inning of a 9-5 loss to the Angels at Angel Stadium on Monday.<\/p>\n

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Buehler does not shy from accountability, or from the question of whether he worries that the Red Sox might move him to the bullpen, at least for a spell.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think you have to,\u201d he said. \u201cAt some point, there are 26 guys that are going to help this team hopefully make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not one of them, I don\u2019t really think it matters what you\u2019ve done in years past.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his previous start, Cora noted before the game, Buehler had failed to retire eight batters with two-strike counts.<\/p>\n

In this game, after the Red Sox handed him a 3-0 lead, Zach Neto hit Buehler\u2019s first pitch over the center-field fence. The Angels scored the remaining four runs with two outs. In all, the Angels scored five runs on two hits, two hit batters and four walks.<\/p>\n

Buehler hit the Angels\u2019 No. 7 batter with two strikes, walked the No. 8 batter with two strikes, and walked the No. 9 batter with two strikes. Then he hit Neto to force home a run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cIt\u2019s just not who I want to be as a baseball player. Obviously, I\u2019d rather get whacked around than do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomehow, this year, I\u2019ve managed to do all the negative things you can. I\u2019ll keep working. It\u2019s just tough to let down our team, especially with the first inning that we had.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers signed Blake Snell<\/a> and Roki Sasaki<\/a> to replace Buehler and Jack Flaherty<\/a> in their rotation. Snell and Sasaki are on the injured list. Flaherty has a 4.83 ERA and an AL-high eight losses for the team with the best record in the majors, the Detroit Tigers.<\/p>\n

Buehler has started 13 games, more than anyone on the Red Sox except Garrett Crochet and more than anyone on the Dodgers except Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> and Dustin May<\/a>. Buehler\u2019s ERA in seven games since returning from an injured list stint for what the Red Sox called shoulder bursitis: 8.59.<\/p>\n

Cora insists that Buehler\u2019s stuff and velocity are fine, and that mechanics and execution are the issues. Buehler walked a career-high seven in his four innings on Monday, more than he walked in 15 innings in the 2024 postseason. Opposing batters have an OPS over 1.000 against his four-seam fastball.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, his stuff is good. It\u2019s really good,\u201d Cora said before the game. \u201cThe one thing we always talk about is the misses. If you look at his four-seamer, when he goes up, it\u2019s actually a non-competitive pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can tighten that up \u2014 and that\u2019s with more repetitions, of course \u2014 he\u2019s going to be OK. Hopefully, it starts soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the game, Cora said he is \u201c100%\u201d sure Buehler is not pitching hurt. Buehler, asked if he is pitching through anything, said: \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler is in his first full season after his second Tommy John surgery. The track record for pitchers returning to their previous performance level after a second such surgery is not encouraging<\/a>. Shohei Ohtani<\/a> is trying the same thing this season.<\/p>\n

For the Dodgers last October, after returning for an abbreviated season, Buehler threw 10 shutout innings in the league championship series and the World Series. I asked him whether the comeback might be harder over the course of a full season. That was the context for volunteering his remark about his ability to pitch in the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, in all honesty, it\u2019s a lot easier to stay good than to get good,\u201d he said. \u201cThe guys on the other side of the field from me drive nice cars, get paid a lot of money to be really good at what they do. Outside of a couple swings, I think largely I beat myself, which is just not something that you can do here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s in there. I think my arm still moves good. I think I can still make the ball move. I think I can still pitch in the major leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, the belief, it gets hard to keep tricking yourself. At some point, I have got to put some results up there, for myself, but also for this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Boston <\/p>\n

Walker Buehler sits in the dugout after being pulled in the fourth inning against the Seattle Mariners on June 17.<\/p>\n

(John Froschauer \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

That is the reality, and the reason for the talk about whether the Red Sox might remove him from their rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a guy open to doing whatever needs to be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a starting pitcher. I\u2019ve been a starting pitcher my whole life. I don\u2019t necessarily think that changing that is going to somehow magically fix everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something\u2019s gotta give. Could be his results, could be his role. Whatever the case, he\u2019ll always have last October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walker Buehler owned our city. When the Dodgers ran out of arms last fall, he instantly reimagined himself…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2379,11632,1582,276,11633,11631,11634,1910,11637,2961,224,5337,11635,471,3959,11638,11636,6807,3007,11630],"class_list":{"0":"post-10711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-batter","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-cora","13":"tag-dodgers-world-series-run","14":"tag-final-inning","15":"tag-game","16":"tag-jack-flaherty","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-major-league","21":"tag-no","22":"tag-red-sox","23":"tag-roki-sasaki","24":"tag-rotation","25":"tag-strike","26":"tag-team","27":"tag-walker-buehler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}