The Los Angeles Dodgers will be facing elimination on Tuesday night when they take on the San Francisco Giants in Game 4 of their National League Division Series. The Dodgers are responding in kind, too, by changing their pitching plans. Rather than trotting out Tony Gonsolin, the Dodgers will be starting Walker Buehler on short rest, the team announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Buehler, 27 years old, served as Los Angeles' Game 1 starter last Friday night in San Francisco. That means he'll be working on just three days' rest, or the least of his career for a start. (He has made relief appearances on three days' rest before.) Buehler allowed three runs on six hits and a walk across 6 ⅓ innings in Game 1. Ultimately, the Dodgers lost that game by a 4-0 final.
Buehler was brilliant during the regular season. In 33 starts, he compiled a 2.47 ERA (165 ERA+) and a 4.08 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He made his second career All-Star Game and averaged a career-high 6.3 innings per start. (His previous career best had been 6.1 innings per start, which was set during the 2019 season.)
The Dodgers trail the Giants by a 2-1 margin in the best-of-five series following Monday night's 1-0 loss. It didn't have to be that way. Gavin Lux hit what he seemed to believe was a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning, yet the wind prevented the ball from even reaching the warning track. Instead, it dropped into San Francisco outfielder Steven Duggar's glove for the final out on the night.
Should the Dodgers force a decisive Game 5, it stands to reason that they would take an all-hands approach to their pitching plans. That means Julio Urías and Max Scherzer, Los Angeles' Games 2 and 3 starters, could be in line for appearances.