Notebook: Buehler breezes through spring debut, a walk-off win, first camp cuts
by Rowan Kavner
Walker Buehler’s spring debut was worth the wait.
A tweaked back delayed the top prospect’s start to Cactus League play, but he was ready to fire Saturday night against the Cubs with five strikeouts against the seven batters he faced in his first action of the spring.
Buehler’s two scoreless innings included just one hit against him in two innings of relief before the Dodgers walked off with a 6–5 win in front of a sellout crowd in their first home night game of the spring at Camelback Ranch-Glendale.
Manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers were just slow-playing Buehler’s spring to be cautious. By the end of February, Buehler was back to throwing bullpens.
After facing live hitters, the next step was the real thing. Even that was delayed, after a conversation about the color of his gray glove.
When he finally took the mound, he came out firing. His fastball not only came in consistently in the high-90s, but it also found the corners as it flummoxed his Cubs opponents.
It was the second dominant, multi-inning pitching performance of the night for the Dodgers, with Rich Hill starting and allowing one hit and one unearned run with four strikeouts in four innings. Hill’s now allowed just one earned run in seven innings over two starts this spring.
At the plate, good things tend to happen when Kiké Hernández faces the Cubs. The National League Championship Series hero mashed his second home run of the spring — a game-tying three-run homer — in the seventh inning to set up Buehler’s debut and the eventual walk-off win.
Each of the Dodgers’ first three batters in the ninth inning reached base before Donovan Solano finished off the win with a sacrifice fly that scored Kyle Farmer, who walked twice and scored twice and now has a 1.619 OPS this spring.
First Camp Cuts
The first trimming of the roster occurred Saturday night after the game, with the Dodgers optioning INF/OF Tim Locastro, LHP Henry Owens, RHP Dennis Santana and RHP Brock Stewart to Minor League camp.
The club also reassigned the following 16 non-roster invitees to Minor League camp:
- C Keibert Ruiz
- C Shawn Zarraga
- INF Matt Beaty
- INF Drew Jackson
- INF Edwin Rios
- OF Yusniel Diaz
- OF DJ Peters
- OF Henry Ramos
- OF Travis Taijeron
- RHP Zach Neal
- RHP Yaisel Sierra
- RHP Joe Broussard
- RHP Daniel Corcino
- RHP CC Lee
- LHP Brian Moran
- RHP Brian Schlitter
