LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers welcomed Walker Buehler back with the kind of support you hope to get from your co-workers when you’ve been out of the office for awhile.
The Dodgers hit four home runs in the first three innings and Buehler made his first start since June 2022 in a 6-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday night.
The win was the Dodgers’ fifth in a row and 12th in their past 14 games, a dominant stretch that has seen them outscore their opponents 99-28.
Over those 14 games, the Dodgers have hit 25 home runs. Even with all those longballs, the Dodgers have managed to give them some new wrinkles. Max Muncy had the first three-homer game of his career on Saturday. That was followed by Shohei Ohtani’s first two-homer game as a Dodger on Sunday.
Monday’s first was back-to-back homers by Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the first inning, the first back-to-back homers by the Dodgers this season.
Named the National League Player of the Week for last week, Ohtani added an eighth day to the week. His 441-foot missile launch in the first inning Monday (following a Mookie Betts walk) was his fourth in a span of nine at-bats stretching to Saturday night and extended a consecutive hit streak to six.
Mired in a 3-for-28 tailspin, James Outman showed signs of life with his first home run since April 9, another two-run shot in the second inning. And in the third, Teoscar Hernandez sent a solo shot into the left field pavilion, the fourth home run from the first 15 batters Marlins starter Roddery Munoz faced.
The main attraction, though, was Buehler’s first major-league start since June 10, 2022.
In the 23 months since then, Buehler underwent, rehabilitated and recovered from surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his pitching elbow as well as Tommy John surgery (his second) with the new bracing technique.
Buehler topped out at 97.6 mph with a first-inning fastball, allaying any concerns about how much of his velocity had returned during his six adrenaline-deficient minor-league rehab starts.
But Buehler’s game is still rough around the edges. He gave up two runs on three hits in his first inning, getting to two strikes to four of the six batters he faced but not getting his first strikeout until the ninth batter in the second inning. Nick Gordon led off that inning with a solo home run, his fly ball to the wall in right field going off Andy Pages’ glove as Pages reached over the scoreboard.
Buehler began to find his footing in the third and fourth innings, striking out three and giving up just one more hit. The Dodgers had projected an 80-85 pitch range for Buehler’s comeback start and Manager Dave Roberts pulled him after 77 pitches in four innings.
Buehler allowed three runs on six hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out four.
Ryan Yarbrough, Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia combined on five scoreless innings in relief of Buehler with Vesia getting the first save opportunity since Evan Phillips went on the injured list.
More to come on this story.