Buehler, 4 relievers shut out Mets as Dodgers win NLCS Game 3

Sometimes, one pitch in the second inning can save a baseball game. Sometimes, it can salvage an entire season for a player.

In the bottom of the second of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night, Walker Buehler faced Francisco Lindor, bases loaded, two outs, Buehler's Los Angeles Dodgers leading Lindor's New York Mets 2-0.

It has been a trying season for Buehler, the one-time postseason star who returned after sitting out most of 2022 and all of 2023 following the second Tommy John surgery of his career. He made 16 starts in the regular season -- and won once, posting a 5.38 ERA. This is a pitcher who won 16 games in 2021 with a 2.47 ERA, one who threw seven scoreless innings in a World Series game as a rookie and gave up three runs over a 21-inning stretch in the 2020 postseason when the Dodgers won it all.

He's in the playoff rotation now only because the Dodgers didn't have any other healthy options. In his start against the Padres in the NL Division Series, he gave up six runs in one inning.

Wednesday night, the count ran full to Lindor, as Buehler stuck with his four-seam fastball and knuckle-curve. With the count 3-2, catcher Will Smith called for the curve. Buehler threw it, it dived wonderfully below Lindor's knees, and the Mets star swung and missed.

It's not the pitch Buehler would have turned to when he was at his peak as one of the hardest-throwing young right-handers in the game.

"Oh, in 2018, 2019, 2020, I would have thrown a fastball. Yeah," he said after the game.

The Dodgers rolled from there to an 8-0 victory and 2-1 series lead -- their remarkable fourth shutout in five playoff games, after blanking the Padres in the final two games of the NLDS and the Mets in Game 1 of this series. Buehler and four relievers combined for the shutout this time as the Dodgers matched the 1905 New York Giants and 2020 Atlanta Braves in throwing four shutouts over a five-game postseason span.

Though Buehler's final line of four scoreless innings might not enter Dodgers lore, he'll take it at this point of his season.

"Honestly, the only point of pride I've had in the past couple of months has been trying to get deep in the games and be efficient," he said. "To only throw four innings is like the complete opposite of that. But I'm proud just for a different reason in terms of being able to get through some big spots and tough spots."