{"id":13818,"date":"2024-10-17T08:03:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T08:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=13818"},"modified":"2024-10-17T08:06:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T08:06:54","slug":"walker-buehler-gets-his-groove-back-in-dodgers-game-3-rout-of-mets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=13818","title":{"rendered":"Walker Buehler Gets His Groove Back in Dodgers\u2019 Game 3 Rout of Mets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Los Angeles got a big boost Wednesday from a starter who\u2019d struggled to find his old form this year. Here are three takeaways from L.A.\u2019s NLCS Game 3 win.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Buehler recorded his first scoreless outing since May on Wednesday. \/ Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Los Angeles Dodgers began this National League championship series by making postseason history with a record-tying scoreless innings streak. After a\u00a0pitching setback<\/u>\u00a0in\u00a0Monday\u2019s Game 2<\/u>, it didn\u2019t take them long to pick right back up where they left off.<\/p>\n

Led by starter Walker Buehler, the Dodgers notched their fourth shutout in five games, scoring an 8\u20130 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field to take a 2\u20131 series lead.<\/p>\n

On a chilly night in Queens, the Mets\u2019 bats went silent in front of their home crowd, as five Los Angeles pitchers combined to blank New York\u2019s offense for the second time in three games. The Dodgers, meanwhile, did a better job taking advantage of their scoring opportunities than their opponents to seize the upper hand in a series that\u2019s seen big swings on each side thus far.<\/p>\n

Here are the three key takeaways from Game 3.<\/p>\n

Walker Buehler reminds us he\u2019s still got it<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Using a phrase like \u201cstill got it\u201d for a player two months removed from his 30th birthday feels silly, but it\u2019s appropriate in Buehler\u2019s case. The righthander\u2019s first year back after recovering from his second Tommy John surgery was pretty much a disaster, as Buehler went 1\u20136 with a 5.38 ERA during the regular season. The man who owned a 2.94 career postseason ERA looked overmatched in his first playoff start this year, giving up six runs in five innings with zero strikeouts in a Game 3 loss against the San Diego Padres during the NLDS.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, though, Buehler turned back the clock. Staked to a 2\u20130 lead after the top of the second inning, Buehler loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the frame and looked primed for an early exit before notching back-to-back strikeouts against Francisco \u00c1lvarez and Francisco Lindor. He left two more runners stranded in the third and retired the side in order in the fourth before manager Dave Roberts decided enough was enough, pulling Buehler after 90 pitches.<\/p>\n

In all, Buehler scattered three singles with two walks, hit a batter and struck out six, but those numbers short sell just how big an outing this was for him. He generated a 53% whiff rate on 34 swings after failing to strike anybody out in his most recent outing, inducing four more swings and misses than he had in three years, and reached the 90-pitch mark for just the second time in his last seven starts. It was far from perfect, but for a team sorely lacking in starting pitching options, getting four shutout innings from one of the few healthy starters left was a massive lift. And after Buehler\u2019s last outing saw him surrender six runs in the second inning to put Los Angeles deep behind the 8-ball, Roberts needed to see signs of progress to trust Buehler for the rest of this month. He got that on Wednesday, and L.A. has a 2\u20131 series lead because of it.<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani continues his RISP domination<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since Game 1 of the NLDS in which he went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, Ohtani has been relatively quiet this postseason, going 4-for-22 with 10 strikeouts and no extra-base hits in the six games since. After starting Wednesday night 0-for-3 with a walk, Ohtani broke the game open with a towering three-run home run in the eighth inning to give Los Angeles a 7\u20130 lead and essentially seal the victory.<\/p>\n

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