Dodgers stay hot, back Walker Buehler’s return with 4 home runs – Daily News

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LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers welcomed Walker Buehler back with the kind of support you hope to get from your co-workers when you’ve been out of the office for awhile.

The Dodgers hit four home runs in the first three innings and Buehler made his first start since June 2022 in a 6-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday night.

“I think the ceremony of it is done. Now I can kind of focus on trying to be good and helping our team,” Buehler said. “I wish it would’ve gone better. I wish I would’ve thrown five or six shutout innings and whatever. But it’s done, and I’m happy to be back.”

Buehler gave up runs in each of the first two innings, put up zeroes in the next two and finished his comeback start after four innings. He allowed three runs on six hits, didn’t walk a batter (hit one) and struck out four.

“It’s huge,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Buehler’s return. “When we put together this roster … he was right there in the center of it. And so to get him back, it’s going to make everyone around him better.

“Getting a staple part of the rotation with his track record, the compete, having him as an active player in the dugout, being an active member of the team, that’s impactful. So I really do believe this is the floor and it’s only going to get better as far as the the execution, the ability to go deeper in games and things like that as he gets his legs under him.”

The win was the Dodgers’ fifth in a row and 12th in their past 14 games, a dominant stretch that has seen them outscore their opponents 99-28.

Over those 14 games, the Dodgers have hit 25 home runs. Even with all those longballs, the Dodgers have managed to give them some new wrinkles. Max Muncy had the first three-homer game of his career on Saturday. That was followed by Shohei Ohtani’s first two-homer game as a Dodger on Sunday.

Monday’s first was back-to-back homers by Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the first inning, the first back-to-back homers by the Dodgers this season.

Named the National League Player of the Week for last week, Ohtani added an eighth day to the week. His 441-foot missile launch in the first inning Monday (following a Mookie Betts walk) was his fourth in a span of nine at-bats stretching to Saturday night and extended a consecutive hit streak to six.

Mired in a 3-for-28 tailspin, James Outman showed signs of life with his first home run since April 9, another two-run shot in the second inning. And in the third, Teoscar Hernandez sent a solo shot into the left field pavilion, the fourth home run from the first 15 batters Marlins starter Roddery Munoz faced.

The main attraction, though, was Buehler’s first major-league start since June 10, 2022.

In the 23 months since then, Buehler underwent, rehabilitated and recovered from surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his pitching elbow as well as Tommy John surgery (his second) with the new bracing technique. Buehler’s surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, was on hand to watch his return.

“I thought he looked really good. That stuff is still electric,” Freeman said. “Second Tommy John, two years (recovering) – I can’t imagine the nerves, the adrenaline, the emotion. I thought he did really good.

“It’s nice to have him back.”

Buehler topped out at 97.6 mph with a first-inning fastball, allaying any concerns about how much of his velocity had returned during his six adrenaline-deficient minor-league rehab starts.

“It made sense with how amped up I was feeling or how fast my heart was going, I guess,” said Buehler, whose fastball was mostly in the 92-94 mph range during his rehab starts. “I wasn’t super surprised, but you think about 22 months and now three surgeries and dealing with that kind of stuff. To be able to – I think the first fastball was 96 and I looked (at the scoreboard) and, ‘Okay.’ You kind of get that, ‘I belong here again’ thing. It was cool.”

Buehler acknowledged that rediscovering his fastball velocity was a relief.

“I didn’t think there was 98 in there still or 97 or whatever it was,” he said. “The adrenaline of being back, normally I try and temper that and I’ve been somewhat concerned about the velocity a little bit. So you kind of try and ride it and see what’s in there. I think the next one I’ll probably feel the same and be able to temper it a little bit knowing that it’s in there. I think I’ll probably have a little bit higher expectations of myself in my next outing, but I feel pretty good about coming out of it, walking in and my arm can be fully straight. That felt pretty good.”

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