MIAMI \u2014 Walker Buehler hadn\u2019t made a start in 18 days \u2014 or pitched in a game at all for 13 days \u2014 when he gave up a home run to the first batter he faced Saturday night in triple A. <\/p>\n
It got better from there.<\/p>\n
Buehler remains on track for his Phillies<\/a> debut Friday night at home against the Royals. The veteran righty threw 78 pitches in only three innings of his triple-A tune-up but also exhibited life on his fastball, according to Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the keys for him is being able to throw that low fastball, like low location,\u201d Cotham said. \u201cIt\u2019s really about trying to get the fastball to a spot because everything really does flow through that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: No longer a mainstay in the Phillies\u2019 outfield, Nick Castellanos says he\u2019s putting the \u2018team goal\u2019 ahead of personal success<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Buehler walked three batters against the Toledo Mud Hens, a continuation of his command problems for much of the season with the Red Sox. But he dialed up his fastball to 94 mph, sidestepped a leadoff triple in the third inning, and allowed only the one earned run. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was really positive, especially for having a little time off, new team, going to triple A,\u201d Cotham said. \u201cAll things considered, I was really positive.\u201d<\/p>\n Buehler got released on Aug. 29 by the Red Sox after posting a 5.45 ERA and walking 55 batters in 112\u2153 innings. The Phillies signed him to a minor league contract and will use him down the stretch in a six-man rotation.<\/p>\n Think of Buehler as a lottery ticket, and you get the idea.<\/p>\n But Cotham also has ideas about how Buehler might get back to being an effective starter. <\/p>\n It has been four seasons since Buehler finished fourth in the Cy Young race. He had his second Tommy John elbow surgery in 2022 and owns a 5.42 ERA in 38 starts since returning last season with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n Yet Buehler still has one of the most varied pitch mixes in baseball. He throws seven pitches: three fastballs (four-seamer, sinker, cutter), a traditional slider and a sweeper, plus a curveball and changeup.<\/p>\n Would he benefit from simplifying things?<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Inside Trea Turner\u2019s drastic improvement at shortstop that has turned him into an MVP candidate<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n \u201cHe knows what his arsenal is and how to make pitches do things,\u201d Cotham said. \u201cMaybe there is a little subtraction. Starting out, it\u2019s just letting the game dictate and not forcing anything in there.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause if he\u2019s featuring the heater and it\u2019s in a good spot, and if he\u2019s featuring the curveball and it\u2019s in a good spot, and he\u2019s protecting both those with the cutter, his ability to throw strikes is still really good. I think the game will dictate some of that.\u201c<\/p>\n If the Phillies stick with a six-man rotation through the end of the regular season, he would start twice more after Friday night: Sept. 19 in Arizona and Sept. 26 at home against the Twins.<\/p>\n At minimum, the Phillies hope Buehler\u2019s presence will enable them to give additional rest to their other starters, notably the lefty trio of Cristopher S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, Ranger Su\u00e1rez<\/a>, and Jes\u00fas Luzardo.<\/p>\n But Buehler also has a 3.04 ERA in 19 career postseason appearances (18 starts), experience that might be helpful in October.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing is making sure we\u2019re doing the best to keep everyone healthy and pitching well and strong going down the stretch,\u201d Cotham said. \u201cBecause we still need to win games.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Aaron Nola believes the key to solving his first inning struggles is \u2018getting the leadoff hitter out\u2019<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Top outfield prospect Justin Crawford went on the seven-day injured list with a concussion he suffered in a collision Thursday night with third baseman Otto Kemp. Crawford leads the triple-A International League in hitting (.334) and on-base percentage (.411) and has 46 steals. … Jordan Romano (right middle finger inflammation) threw a bullpen session. Although he\u2019s eligible to return from the injured list Tuesday, he will face hitters in a batting practice setting and go on a minor league assignment, according to manager Rob Thomson<\/a>. … Aaron Nola<\/a> (3-8, 6.78 ERA) will start the series opener at 6:45 p.m. Monday night against Mets rookie righty Nolan McLean (4-0, 1.37).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.inquirer.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MIAMI \u2014 Walker Buehler hadn\u2019t made a start in 18 days \u2014 or pitched in a game at all for 13 days \u2014 when he gave up a home run to the first batter he faced Saturday night in triple A. It got better from there. Buehler remains on track for his Phillies debut Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[365475],"class_list":["post-2004940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-royalty","tag-phillies-walker-buehler-triple-a-start"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2004940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2004940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2004940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2004940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Extra bases<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n