How Walker Buehler Turned In His Best Outing Of The Season

Going into Friday night’s game, Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Walker Buehler was on the hot seat.

Whether he knew it or not, Buehler did his best to put the rumors of his demise aside, firing six shutout innings agains the San Diego Padres.

Buehler made a significant change to his pitch mix, using his four-seam fastball 47% of the time and generated a season high four-whiffs with this pitch. Against lefties, he used the pitch more than in any other start, throwing it 54% of the time. Coming into Friday, lefties had hit .373 against his cutter.

Coming into tonight, Buehler’s first pitch strike rate was just 63%. On Friday, he ran a 76% first-pitch strike rate, including two first pitch outs. Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted how important count leverage was in Buehler’s start.

“I think there was only one hitter who went to 2-0, it was Machado,” Cora said. “Overall, great performance.”

Buehler has been his own toughest critic this season, but he was satisifed with his performance Friday.

“I think for me, knowing where my hand is out front, if that happens then I feel like I can kind of do whatever I want, and I can be one of the better guys in baseball, and obviously this year I haven’t kind of been there but tonight I kind of felt like I knew where my hand was so obviously it was a pretty improved result,” Buehler said.

If Buehler can continue to use his fastball effectively and get deep into games, the more formidable the Red Sox will be. While it’s too soon to label Buehler “back”, his start against San Diego was a big one in the right direction.