It was just one of those nights at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. Although 24-year-old Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler was good, he was not that good. It’s not that the Lexington, Kentucky native and Dodgers 2015 first-round draft pick out of Vanderbilt University was bad, he just wasn’t that good. In fact, in his 5.2 innings pitched against the current National League Central second place Chicago Cubs, he allowed only three runs on four hits, while walking two. But what made him not that good on this cool Wednesday night is that he only struck out one of the 22 Cubs batters that he faced, which is very un-Walker Buehler-like.

After the Dodgers put up a three spot through six innings (including two on Cody Bellinger‘s 12th home run of the season in the top of the sixth), Buehler seemed to be missing his spots in the bottom half of the sixth. After striking out Cubs pinch-hitter Mark Zagunis (for that aforementioned only strikeout), Buehler gave up a single to Cubs second baseman Daniel Descalso and got third baseman Kris Bryant to fly out to center for the second out of the inning. But just when it appeared as though Buehler was going to get out of the inning unscathed, he missed his spot (badly) on an 0-2 pitch to ever-dangerous Cubs shortstop Javier Báez, which landed (deep) in the left field bleachers of Major League Baseball’s second oldest ballpark for a game-tying three-run home run to bring an end to Buehler’s night.

“That’s a pitch that not many people in the world can hit out. That pitch is probably four inches above the zone,” Buehler told reporters after the game. “Obviously a miss. Obviously not what we were trying to do with the pitch. At the same time, it wasn’t right down the middle and the guy did a good job.

“I was just trying to put it on the outer third. Two fastballs before that, we get a take and a foul ball. Throw a little slider off of it. Sometimes you try to do too much and the ball flies out of your hand a little bit,” Buehler added. “It’s still a moving ball – circular ball, circular bat – and he hit it 380 feet. Props to him.”

But Buehler wasn’t the only Dodgers pitcher with an ‘obvious miss.’ After giving up a double to Cubs pinch-hitter David Bote and intentionally walking right-handed-hitting Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, Dodgers left-hander Scott Alexander, who relieved Buehler still with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, also missed with a 91-MPH fastball on a 2-2 count to equally dangerous left-handed-hitting Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward, which landed in the basket in left-center field for a devastating three-run home run to give the Cubs a 6-3 lead.

One inning later and as he seemingly does every time he is called upon, former Dodger-killer (and in a sense, current Dodger-killer) right-hander Joe Kelly, whom the Dodgers signed this past off-season to a painfully-long 3-year / $25 million contract (with a club option for a fourth year), also obviously missed when he hit Bryant with a 96-MPH fastball which he followed by giving up a RBI double to Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo to give the North Siders their seventh and ultimately winning run of the game.

The Dodgers mounted a quasi-comeback in the top of the eighth inning after a one-out single by shortstop Corey Seager and a two-out single by Bellinger, which was followed by a three-run home run by replacement left fielder (a clue) Alex Verdugo off of Cubs right-hander Steve Cishek to get the Dodgers to within one and make it a 7-6 ballgame. Unfortunately, that’s how it would end, with Alexander being tagged with the loss and a no-decision for Buehler.

The Dodgers will attempt to salvage one of the three games against the Cubs on Thursday morning when they send right-hander Ross Stripling to the mound opposite Cubs veteran left-hander Jon Lester. First pitch is scheduled for 11:20 AM (PT).

Play Ball!

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