During the Padres’ 7-1 victory over the Dodgers on Friday night, Walker Buehler was dominant on the mound.
When Buehler met with reporters after the game, he didn’t hesitate to state how good he felt after beating his former team for the first time as a member of the Padres.
“My last pitch there was the last out of the [2024] World Series. I don’t really know how else I would’ve rather gone out any better than that,” Buehler said Friday. “I want to kick everyone’s a–. I want to beat everyone, especially in the division. And especially against a team that has been so successful against the organization that I am with now.”
Friday night marked the second time Buehler has faced the team he helped close out Game 5 and win the 2024 World Series over the Yankees. The first time he faced the Dodgers was as a member of the Red Sox, when he pitched 4 ⅔ innings, giving up three runs, five walks and four hits.
On Friday night, Buehler looked like his old self, pitching five-plus innings and striking out five. He yielded one run on three hits and three walks.
“I think the first one in Boston was a lot bigger, emotional, load, for lack of a better word,” Buehler said Friday night. “It’s a team in our division; I’m gonna have to pitch against them. It’s good to get the first win in this uniform, at home, and we’ll see what kind of happens on the road. I haven’t thrown at Dodger Stadium yet, which will be a different thing.”
Buehler admitted during postgame that his philosophy on pitching has changed since he joined the Padres. Now he is not trying to throw over 100 pitches in a game but is more focused on delivering five to six clean innings for the bullpen to finish the game.
Through his last eight starts, Buehler has been one of MLB’s better pitchers with a 2.76 ERA. He has been mixing up his pitching sequence by relying less on his cutter and more on his sinker.
While the Padres and Dodgers are scheduled to play the second game of their three-game series Saturday night in San Diego, it appears Buehler’s next scheduled start will come against the Dodgers: July 2 at Dodger Stadium.