Buehler on confidence, expectations & pitching from the stretch

Yesterday at 09:07 AM

Buehler: "I want 25 guys in the locker room that believe I give us a really good chance to win."

Walker Buehler pitched through some traffic but got through four scoreless innings with six strikeouts in Wednesday night's Game 3 win over the Mets. The Dodgers right-hander pitched exclusively from the stretch from a point early in the first inning.

He explained to Ken Rosenthal on the FS1 broadcast after the game why that change was made.

"It being cold, and the mound is simply pretty hard here, I move my right foot in my windup, and the first three throws of the game my foot didn't like the way it was moving back there," Buehler told Rosenthal. "So I went to the stretch so I wouldn't have to move it, and I think it was the right call."

Buehler is a different pitcher than his halcyon days with the Dodgers, when he made All-Star teams and received Cy Young Award votes. But confidence is still a big part of his game, which was prevalent on Wednesday night, and the feeling among his teammates is mutual.

"I was asked many times before the game what was I expecting out of Walker Buehler," Max Muncy reiterated David Vassegh's question on AM 570 radio after the game. "He was exactly what I expected tonight."

Kiké Hernández also homered in the Game 3 win, and has heaped praise on Buehler, which didn't go unnoticed by the right-hander.

"The way Kiké talks about our team having some sort of confidence when I pitch, regardless, I think is kind of really the goal for any starting pitcher," Buehler told reporters in the postgame interview room at Citi Field. "There's the stats and free agency and all this shit, but I want 25 guys in the locker room that believe I give us a really good chance to win.

"If I've created that in our locker room somehow, that's probably what I'll be the most proud of when I'm done."