The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Saturday morning that right-hander Walker Buehler will start that night’s Game 6 of the National League Championship Series at Atlanta.
Buehler (0-1, 3.77 ERA) was ushered to start on three days’ rest in place of ace Max Scherzer, who said Sunday that his “arm was dead.”
The 27-year-old Buehler initially was slated to start a potential Game 7 against the Braves, who hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Buehler came back on short rest to pitch Game 4 of the NL Division Series against the San Francisco Giants, and he turned in 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball as the Dodgers posted a 7-2 victory to force a decisive fifth game, which they won.
Los Angeles has been without veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw throughout the postseason due to a forearm injury.
The Dodgers acquired Scherzer from the Washington Nationals in a July 30 trade, and he went 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA in the regular season for Los Angeles, with the team winning all 11 of his starts. He is 0-1 with a save and a 2.16 ERA in four appearances (three starts) during the 2021 postseason.
He threw 179 1/3 innings during the regular season and has added 16 2/3 innings in the postseason.
Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, led the Nationals to the 2019 World Series title. He went 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA in six postseason games (five starts) that year.
–Field Level Media