Red Sox’s Alex Cora Addresses Health Of Walker Buehler Following Rough Outing

Boston Red Sox starter Walker Buehler had another rough outing on Monday in a wild 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

With the Red Sox out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, Buehler tried to sneak a 93.6 mph fastball by Angels’ leadoff hitter Zach Neto, which was promptly launched 412 feet to center field for a home run. Buehler would follow that up with a series of walks and hit-by-pitches that quickly turned into runs and a 5-3 Angels lead.

After settling into a rhythm through the second and third innings, Buehler found himself in trouble again during the bottom of the fourth. A leadoff single and a pair of walks had him on the ropes early, but he battled back with the bases loaded, and his day was over after four innings and 94 pitches.

Speaking to the media after the game and asked if he thought Buehler was healthy, Red Sox manager Alex Cora responded “100 percent,” and later described his prolonged inability to throw strikes as “mechanical,” as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.

Buehler allowed seven walks, five earned runs, and three hits on the day. Asked if the team would be reevaluating his spot in the rotation after struggling over the last month, Cora seemed non-committal toward answering the question definitively.

“We’ll talk about it,” responded Cora.” But, I mean, like the second and third innings were really good. I mean, velocity was set up, and the movement of pitches were great. But he knows it. You know, we talked a little bit down here”

Including Monday’s no-decision, Buehler is now 5-5 with a 6.29 ERA on the season. He’s now allowed 28 earned runs and 18 walks over his last 27 innings of work.