Walker Buehler gave up a leadoff triple to Toledo’s Gage Workman in the third inning of Saturday’s game at Coca-Cola Park.
But he then displayed the form he showed as a two-time All-Star with the Dodgers, striking out two and getting a popout to prevent any damage.
“It’s been a while since I felt like I could turn it on and get through something like that,” Buehler said.
There also were signs Saturday of what Buehler showed in his 23 outings this season before the Red Sox released him Aug. 28.
He gave up a leadoff home run to Toledo’s Hau-Yu Lee. He walked three. He struggled to finish off hitters, which elevated his pitch count and had him exiting after three innings and 78 pitches.
“Obviously, it was a little sporadic,” he added, “but we’re trying to change some things to get back to how I used to throw the ball. I thought the misses were a little tighter than they were for the year.”
Buehler is working with a familiar face in Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham. Both have roots at Vanderbilt University. Both found common ground in what is the 31-year-old’s best option to return to how he dominated opposing hitters while with the Dodgers with an upper-90s fastball and an assortment of off-speed pitches.
Tommy John surgery in 2022 took away some of that velocity. He sat in the mid-90s late in 2024 while helping the Dodgers win the World Series. But he’s been 92-93 for much of this season and, worse, his command has been erratic.
“For me, it’s all about getting extension and getting my [right] arm up high,” Buehler said. “Since the surgery I have been rotational and, for me, kind of spinny. If you look back at the first five years of my career, I didn’t miss left much. I didn’t pull many balls.
“I pulled more balls the past two years than I did the rest of my career combined,” he said. “It was the result of spinning. I have to get in position where I spin and rotate downward and that gets the arm up and eliminates the left miss. Tonight, there weren’t left misses outside of breaking balls that I’m kind of OK with. It was a step forward.”
Buehler was 7-7 with a 5.45 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in his time with the Red Sox, averaging only five innings per start. He issued 55 walks and yielded 120 hits.
It was a challenging, eye-opening experience for the Kentucky native. He took the couple days off between being released by the Red Sox and signing with the Phillies to regroup physically and mentally.
“To be completely honest with you, I sat at my house and drank beer,” he said. “I’d never gone through this before. I talked to my agents about how to handle this. I’m very fortunate that I haven’t [gone through this before].
“At the end of the day, this game will tell you that you’re in different spot than you used to be,” he said. “I’m excited to be in a place that wants to help me get back to what I’ve always done and get the four-seam fastball back to being the main thing. I feel good about it. The line is not what I wanted, but the feeling and results for me have improved.”
Buehler said the extended break from pitching also helped with the reset and changes being made. The inconsistency throughout 2025 provided draining moments physically and emotionally for a player whose career ERA was two runs lower than what it’s been this season.
But the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder’s life away from baseball helped him process and adjust to all that 2025 has brought.
“I think having a kid has helped a lot,” he said. “It settled me down. I used to be a little bit wild and kind of a different guy than I am today. I’m trying to take every day and improve and get back to at least mentally what I used to feel.
“I yelled at guys today and that’s a good sign. When I feel that kind of locked in and have that attitude, that was a trademark of me when I was young.”
Buehler is expected to make his Phillies debut Sept. 12 in Philadelphia against the Royals. He’s hoping to build momentum in the season’s final weeks to take into the offseason and, hopefully, next season.
The Dodgers’ 2015 first-round pick understands that his progress will determine how much time he has left in the profession.
“Metrically, there are some things there were drastically improved [on Saturday],” he said. “This was the place I was looking forward to having a conversation with this offseason. It’s funny how things work out. I think I can help at the end of the year like I have in my career, but there also is a long-term outlook here that if I don’t get it right and on track, then I’m not playing for a long time after this.”
Roster moves
OF Justin Crawford was placed on the 7-day injured list with a concussion suffered in a collision with teammate Otto Kemp on a fly ball during Thursday’s game. He also had a tooth knocked out.
RHP Phil Bickford was reinstated from the Temporarily Inactive List.
How they scored
Top 2: Jace Jung and scored on Max Anderson’s fourth home run of the year with one out. Andrew Navigato walked and scored on Riley Unroe’s third homer of the season. Mud Hens 4-0
Top 4: Navigato walked, stole second and scored on Unroe’s single. Trei Cruz singled to send Unroe to third. Unroe scored when Cruz stole second and the ball was thrown away. Cruz scored on Eduardo Valencia’s bloop single. Mud Hens 7-0
Bottom 4: Brewer Hicklen singled, took second on Rodolfo Castro’s infield single, third on a double play grounder and scored on a wild pitch. Mud Hens 7-1
Bottom 6: Hicklen doubled with one out and scored on Rodolfo Castro’s single. Mud Hens 7-2
Top 7: Valencia hit his 11th homer of the year to lead off. Gage Workman hit a solo shot with one out, his 13th of the season. Mud Hens 9-2
Top 8: Cruz singled, Brian Serven walked and Akil Baddoo singled to load the bases. Jung walked to score Cruz. Workman’s sacrifice fly scored Serven. Mud Hens 11-2
Top 9: Navigato hit his 10th homer of the year leading off. Unroe doubled and scored on Cruz’s single. Baddoo walked and Jung hit a three-run homer with two outs. It was his 15th of the season. Mud Hens 16-2
Up next
The IronPigs’ playoff fate will become clearer with their six-game road trip to first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, starting at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at PNC Field in Moosic. The RailRiders are first in the second-half standings, ahead of Syracuse, Indianapolis, Toledo and Lehigh Valley with 12 games left. Jacksonville was the first-half champion and host the second-half champion this month in a best-of-3 series for the right to play the Pacific Coast League champion in the Triple-A championship game in Las Vegas.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com.
https://www.mcall.com/2025/09/08/walker-buehler-encouraged-by-progress-changes-hes-made-this-week/
