Buehler outduels Flaherty but doesn’t factor into decision as Dodgers lose late
by Rowan Kavner
This was set up to be different. Walker Buehler had outdueled Jack Flaherty in a remarkable rookie starting pitcher battle, setting a career high in strikeouts in the process. Eventually, his pitch count and not his performance would force him out.
That meant turning to the bullpen with a one-run lead. When that didn’t go to plan, it meant needing a clutch hit. And when that didn’t go to plan, it meant a sweep at the hands of the Cardinals, who scored all three of their runs Wednesday night in the final two innings of a 3–1 Dodger loss.
“It’s definitely redundant,” said manager Dave Roberts. “It’s kind of the same thing we’ve seen. But there’s no other choice but to keep going.”
Through five innings, neither starting pitcher had allowed a run. Flaherty hadn’t allowed a hit, either.
Buehler would throw another scoreless inning in the sixth. Flaherty would not.
Flaherty’s slider baffled Dodger hitters, drawing 14 swinging strikes on the pitch, using it to get his 10th strikeout to start the sixth inning. Roberts spoke before the game about his surprise to find his club leads the league in strikeouts on balls in the middle third of the plate.
Through five innings, the Dodgers hadn’t made Flaherty pay for his occasional slip-up. In the fifth, Yasmani Grandal fouled off a middle-middle fastball on a 3–1 pitch but still drew a walk. A batter later, Yasiel Puig fouled off a middle-middle fastball and ended up chasing a 3–2 pitch out of the zone to end the inning, snapping the bat over his leg in disgust.
Finally, with one out in the sixth, Flaherty hung a slider that Joc Pederson took advantage of, sending it out to right field for a solo home run. It was also the Dodgers’ first hit of the night, breaking a scoreless game.
Buehler was not done. A Jedd Gyorko double would start the seventh, but Buehler followed with a strikeout — his career-high ninth of the game — and a groundout. With Gyorko on third, Buehler animatedly strolled off the mound after a pop-out ended the threat and gave him his seventh scoreless inning.
In four August starts, Buehler’s ERA sits at 1.07.
“Walker did everything he could do,” Roberts said. “You could see the emotion there in the seventh inning. He emptied the tank.”
The jubilation would not last long.
Scott Alexander took over in the eighth. His second pitch resulted in a groundout. His sixth pitch would leave the yard, as Tyler O’Neill took a ball at the knees out to right field for a game-tying pinch-hit home run.
For much of the month, the Dodgers’ problem had been leaving runners on. For the most part Wednesday, the problem was getting them on. But the former issue crept up again late.
In the eighth, the Dodgers were presented their best chance to break the game open. Justin Turner walked to load the bases with two outs for Manny Machado, who found himself in a hitter’s count. A 2–0 pitch found the corner for a strike. Another juicy pitch sailed down the middle, but a mighty hack would only foul it off. The last pitch of the at-bat bounced to short to end the inning.
The Dodgers only had two chances with runners in scoring position Wednesday but failed to come through in both, finishing the series 3-for-23 in such scenarios.
For the second time in the series, Kenley Jansen would enter in a tie game in the ninth. For the second time in the series, he’d suffer the loss in a two-run Cardinal inning.
Jansen said his cutter is frustrating him since his return, not getting the pitch where he wants it to be. He left one up to Paul DeJong, who sent a two-run home run out to left field to put St. Louis ahead.
The Dodgers went down in order in the ninth, suffering their ninth defeat in their last 12 games. They’ll be off Thursday before hosting the Padres this weekend.
“It sucks losing,” Jansen said. “It sucks going 4.5 (games) back. It sucks being in third place. But you’ve got to be a man and deal with it and step up Friday. We’ve all got to step up.”
Attendance Note: The Dodgers reached 3 million in attendance (3,036,253) for the year Wednesday night, becoming the first team in the big leagues to reach 3 million this season. It’s the seventh straight season the Dodgers have surpassed the mark.
