Walker Buehler’s day off became his day on, with the Dodgers exhausting their bullpen options in the late innings Wednesday night.
The right-hander, who was superb in his Game 3 start Monday, was summoned to pitch the ninth and worked a perfect frame in the Dodgers’ 7-6 victory over the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series.
From a pitching perspective, Wednesday became a complete mess for the Dodgers, with starter Jack Flaherty lasting just 1 ¹/₃ innings and allowing four earned runs on four hits and one walk.
But manager Dave Roberts skillfully navigated his bullpen to get his team to the finish line.
Flaherty was solid in his Game 1 start for the Dodgers, but the right-hander got jumped early on this night. After Juan Soto walked in the first inning, Aaron Judge launched his first homer of the series.
Before the inning was complete, Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered to widen the Dodger deficit to 3-0.
Flaherty got only one out in the second inning before Roberts began his influx of bullpen arms.
Anthony Banda got the final two outs in the second after Anthony Volpe had doubled leading off the inning against Flaherty and scored on Alex Verdugo’s single.
In the third, Ryan Brasier allowed a solo homer to Giancarlo Stanton that put the Dodgers in a 5-0 hole.
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Michael Kopech, Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen and Buehler combined to pitch 5 ¹/₃ innings of scoreless relief after that.
Sandwiched in the middle of that parade was Brusdar Graterol, who gave up a run in his two-thirds of an inning.
He started the sixth with walks to Soto and Judge, and after a fielder’s choice by Chisholm moved the runners over, Stanton lofted a sacrifice fly to score Soto for a 6-5 lead.
