Despite of true pressure at the first moment and surrounded crowd, Walker Buehler, with his perfect calm, located the release valve.
The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher began Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals yesterday (03/10/2019) with only four postseason starts. However, he was fully prepared for the match against Patrick Corbin, facing minor resistance through three rounds as he opened with a powerful strike of Trea Turner and often hit the high-90s with his fastball.
On the other hand, Buehler fixed himself in the fourth top, walking Adam Eaton, Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick in quick sequence to put Asdrubal Cabrera on the plate. With his wavering fast ball management conducing a visit from pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, Buehler went to his curveball over again. Cabrera appears in the void at first and then chases again, sending a meek return to the mound.
Cabrera’s wailing dribbler was the biggest threat that Buehler had to face, as all-stars left off just one blow and made eight of the six inning to drive the Dodgers to a 6-0 victory at Dodger Stadium.
With a blank-faced, Buehler affirmed that he has a lot of trust in Honey after his first profession postseason victory.
The Nationals, so high-spirited as they beat the drum their wild-card triumph two days earlier, were wrecked by quiet bats early and defeated by the Dodgers’ offense late. Los Angeles, in looking for its third straight World Series trip, referred every chance of the record-setting, 106-victory favorite, steadily managing a pitcher’s duel through six rounds before breaking open the game with late fireworks.
Nationals Manager Dave Martinez pointed out that their competitor played really good that explained why they have appeared in the postseason so many years in a row and The Nationals had faced good pitchers.
Buehler required tenous help and the Dodgers offense was rather than the task. Los Angeles created a first-round run thanks to three walks by Corbin, made the score again in the fifth thanks to a Howie Kendrick failure at first and then Gavin Lux and Joc Pederson stuffed the final tally with eighth-inning. While Washington faced self-inflicted pain, Buehler made strong impression to Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts with his constant demeanor.
Roberts said “Buehler knows how to temper and control his emotions and transfer that into his delivery. From that first throw, he was on point tonight. That’s a really good Nationals lineup over there. We needed that one.”
About Walker Buehler
Buehler has already made history at his 25-year-old. He got the Game 1 start over Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-jin Ryu, came in these playoffs with only 23.2 innings pitched in the playoffs.
As reported by Stats Inc., Walker Buehler is the first National League pitcher to own back-to-back playoff starts of six or more innings while admiting two or fewer hits. Buehler arrived 07 innings in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
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