LOS ANGELES _ Getting a rare day off, Mookie Betts joined the Los Angeles Dodgers' TV broadcast in the second inning Friday night for a midgame interview. The right fielder was asked about his "spa day," as manager Dave Roberts called it, and his strong start to the season.
But when the topic turned to Walker Buehler, Betts' mind immediately went back to two Octobers before.
Still a member of the Boston Red Sox then, Betts was on the receiving end of one of Buehler's signature starts. In Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, the pitcher silenced the Red Sox's lineup in a scoreless seven-inning, seven-strikeout Fall Classic spectacle, a night that showcased just how special _ how sensational _ the right-hander can be.
"His stuff is electric," Betts said. "To this day, it was probably the best pitching game I've ever been a part of."
Buehler was in similar form Friday, putting an end to early-season struggles with an emphatic six inning, one-run, 11-strikeout display in the Dodgers' 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.
It was peak Buehler for much of the night. An upper-90s fastball lasered to all corners of the zone. A knee-buckling curveball that disappeared as it reached the plate. A cutter and two-seamer that ran away from bats and kept Rockies hitters off-balance. An unshakable calm and unmistakable confidence accompanying every pitch.
The 26-year-old hardly even needed his slider. The rest of his arsenal was that good, allowing him to get ahead in counts and put-away his opponents with familiar ease.
Buehler's first four starts this year were a battle. His command was off. His breaking balls weren't generating whiffs. And his numbers were out of whack, marked by an earned-run average that was greater than five and a 4.3 walks-per-nine-inning rate more than double what it was last year.
But all along, Roberts had maintained Buehler just needed more time. Over summer quarantine, the pitcher hadn't thrown as much as some of his rotation counterparts. During last month's training camp, he was simply trying to rebuild his stamina.
For the first time this year, he seemed to be at full force Friday, getting more than enough support from an offense that took the lead in the first on an RBI double by Cody Bellinger, added three more in the third on an RBI single by Matt Beaty and Corey Seager's two-run double, and ended the night with eight different players in the hit column.
The Rockies, meanwhile, failed to reach base their first time through the order, opening the game with 11 consecutive outs before Charlie Blackmon's fourth-inning single. By then, Buehler had long found his groove. At one point, he struck out nine of 12 batters. Over the first five innings, only three balls left the infield.
Buehler finally ran into trouble in the sixth, conceding three consecutive one-out singles, the last of which to Trevor Story, to allow his first run. But then, even after Story stole second to put two runners in scoring position, Buehler fanned Blackmon with a curveball in the dirt and induced an inning-ending fly out from Nolan Arenado deep down the line in right.
Buehler bit down on his Dodger blue glove as he walked back to the dugout afterward, leaving the game for good in his longest start this season. He knew Arenado had come only a few feet short of tying the game. He knew that, despite his gaudy stat line, he still has another gear to reach.
Three takeaways on the Dodgers
_Walker Buehler looked at full force for the first time this season, delivering a dazzling six-inning, one-run, 11-strikeout display to lower his earned-run average to 4.32. He dominated with a fastball that painted all four corners and a late-breaking curveball that induced five swings-and-misses.
_Also for the first time this season, the Dodgers received back-to-back starts of at least six innings and no more than one run, as Buehler's strong outing followed Clayton Kershaw's gem Thursday in Seattle.
_With right fielder Betts getting an off day Friday, Joc Pederson batted leadoff for the ninth time this year and opened the game with a double. Previously, he was just two for 25 from the No. 1 spot.
