At this point, with the Red Sox‘s playoff chances looking solid but far from certain, even Walker Buehler is not so sure that Walker Buehler should still be in the team’s starting pitching rotation. Buehler has been something of a wild ride all season, popping in with solid outings sprinkled among a handful of decent showings, set against a backdrop of unpredictable control issues.
His last three starts sum it up. On August 8, he was very good against the Padres, going 6.0 innings and allowing no runs on four hits and two walks. He followed that up with an iffy performance against the Astros on August 13, in which he allowed four runs in 6.0 innings, and yielded just four hits. But two of the hits were home runs, and he hurt his cause by walking four.
And on Tuesday, it was the worst of Buehler, who has been consistently undone in the fifth innings of his bad starts. This time, manager Alex Cora pulled Buehler after he allowed a double and a walk in the fifth. In all, Buehler went 4.0 innings with four hits, four walks and two runs allowed.
Walker Buehler Not Earning His ‘Leash’
This is not how things were supposed to go for Buehler, who signed a one-year, $21.3 million contract with Boston in the offseason, hoping for a bounce-back season after he struggled with the Dodgers last year.
The Red Sox have gotten very good pitching from ace Garrett Crochet and Nos. 2-3 Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello. New addition Dustin May has pitched well in his last two Red Sox outings. The weak link has been Buehler, who has gotten a long leash from the Red Sox.
“At some point, the leash I’m given has been earned,” Buehler said, per MassLive. “I think they did the right thing in coming to get me before the (Gunnar) Henderson at-bat. Our bullpen has been great. For me personally, I think everything went according to plan until the fifth. You go double, four-pitch walk. The way I’ve been throwing it, it all kind of makes sense.”
Red Sox Getting Too Many Walks
Buehler did not take the loss in what was the capper to a brutal two-game sweep at the hands of the Orioles, which the Red Sox lost in extra innings after a game-tying homer by newcomer Nathaniel Lowe in the ninth.
But he is now 7-7 with a 5.40 ERA, and has struggled badly with walks, a problem he called, “embarrassing.” Asked for his self-assessment, he was blunt.
“What do you think?” said Buehler. “To be completely frank with you, we can have these questions as much as we want and I can tell you how hard I’m working and how hard we all are working and all that (expletive). At the end of the day, it’s not going so good.”
Red Sox Have Intriguing Options
The Red Sox are not flush with pitching depth, but there are options. Most recently, they had Cooper Criswell make an emergency start on August vs. Houston, and he gave Boston 7.0 innings, allowing one run. Criswell is 4-2 with a 4.11 ERA in Triple-A Worcester.
There’s also Kyle Harrison, the lefty the team got in the Rafael Devers trade. After a rough start, he is 3-2 with a 3.48 ERA in Triple A. Harrison started the year in the Giants rotation before he was demoted.
Similarly, the Red Sox could turn to experienced hand Richard Fitts. who has a 3.00 ERA in three August starts for the Woo Sox.
The team has also left open the possibility of Connelly Early making his big-league debut in September. He was moved to Triple-A early this month and has gone 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA in three starts since then.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Red Sox’s Walker Buehler ‘Embarrassed’ as Rotation Spot in Question appeared first on Heavy Sports.