Walker Buehler ended his 2024 season celebrating at Yankee Stadium last October, having recorded the final out of the Dodgers’ triumph over the Bronx Bombers in the World Series.
Now with the Red Sox, Buehler made his first return to The Bronx on Friday night to get his first taste of the rivalry and the vibes could not have been more different.
Buehler allowed seven runs while recording just six outs in the 9-6 loss, watching his ERA balloon to 5.18 after signing a one-year, $21.05 million contract.
“This organization put a lot of faith in me this offseason and I’ve been f–king embarrassing for us,” Buehler said, according to masslive.com.
The Red Sox (30-35) have been one of the bigger disappointments in baseball and that largely has to do with an underwhelming starting staff.
While Garrett Crochet has been an ace, the rest of the staff, including Buehler, have underwhelmed. Boston ranks 25th with a 4.53 ERA from its starters.
The Red Sox offered Buehler the strong one-year financial offer in hope he would perform well this season in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The righty posted a career-worst 5.38 ERA in the regular season last year for the Dodgers, but pitched 10 scoreless innings against the Mets and Yankees in the NLCS and World Series, respectively.
Buehler seemed to be settling in after he lowered is ERA to 4.00 with 2 1/3 scoreless innings against the Mets before being ejected on May 20 in his return from the injured list, but he’s since struggled.
The former Vanderbilt starter is 0-3 with an 8.52 ERA across his last three starts, allowing 14 runs (12 earned), 21 hits and five homers, while lasting just 12 2/3 cumulative innings.
Buehler yielded a season-high seven runs Friday night, including five in the first inning after coming one strike away from escaping the frame with no damage.
After a leadoff walk and a double, Buehler induced a lineout and struck out Paul Goldschmidt before getting Jazz Chisholm in an 0-2 hole.
His 0-2 hung just enough for Chisholm to hit a three-run homer to center. Two batters later, Anthony Volpe went deep for a 5-0 lead.
Chisholm added an RBI single in the second and Buehler hit Volpe to force in a run in the second before Red Sox manager Alex Cora mercifully ended his starter’s outing after 67 pitches.
“It’s tough,” Buehler said, per masslive.com. “It’s obviously a big game and a big rivalry that I was excited to be a part of. And for it to go the way that it did is super disappointing, especially after the past two, three weeks of kind of prep and throwing and all that kinda (expletive) and how I’m feeling. Physically I feel great and for it to happen that way, it sucks.”
Buehler told reporters he still feels he’s getting closer to his normal self, even believing he threw plenty of good pitches Friday night.
The Red Sox can only hope that starts translating into results.
“Physically and even the execution of it, I didn’t feel it felt like a seven-run, two-inning outing,” Buehler said, per the outlet. “But that’s the game and give it another go in five days.”