Walker Buehler Leaves Rehab Start Early After Being Hit By Comebacker

Walker Buehler made his third rehab start as he works his way back to the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation following a second career Tommy John surgery, but the outing with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga was cut short.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the plan was for Buehler to throw 80-90 pitches for the Quakes on Friday night, but he only reached 27 before exiting the game.

Buehler was hit by a comebacker on his throwing hand in the second inning and managed to finish the inning before he was removed from the game to begin the third.

“He took a ball off, I think it was the index finger on his throwing hand,” Roberts said. “I don’t think it was too serious. But just for precautionary (reasons), he finished the inning and then he was down. So certainly abbreviated.”

Over his two innings, Buehler gave up one run on three hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Overall on his rehab assignment, Buehler has thrown 10 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) while striking out eight and walking three.

He’s made two starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City and one start for the Quakes. The expectation prior to the start for the Quakes outing being cut short was that Buehler would make one more outing with Rancho Cucamonga or Oklahoma City before the the Dodgers then decided whether to activate him.

Before Buehler left the game, Roberts expressed confidence that the 29-year-old would be back with the Dodgers soon.

“I thought his last one was good,” Roberts said. “I thought his last one was good. And so he’s trending in the right way. His recovery is good. He’s strong, ball’s coming out well.

“So after this one, I would expect it to be a really good one. And we’re really close. Very excited for Walker, I know he’s chomping at the bit.”

However, that timeline is now seemingly pushed back and Buehler will likely need another rehab start to continue building up his pitch count, as long as there’s no major injury on his hand.

Walker Buehler’s rehab assignment

In his first rehab game, Buehler threw 54 pitches over 3.1 innings while giving up four runs on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks. It marked the first time he was on the mound since starting for the Dodgers at Oracle Park on June 10, 2022.

Buehler followed that up by tossing 4.2 scoreless innings in a second rehab start for Oklahoma City. He allowed just two hits and collected six strikeouts while reaching the 65-pitch mark.