It’s what every Dodgers fan has been waiting almost two years for – the return on 29-year-old Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler‘s following his second Tommy John surgery back on August 23, 2022 and his first Major League appearance since June 10, 2022.

It went well for the Lexington, KY native and Dodgers first round draft pick in 2015 out of Vanderbilt.

As expected, Buehler was on a strict pitch count, making a total of 77, of which 49 were for strikes in his 4.0-inning return debut. But what wasn’t expected was him hitting 98 mph with his fastball.

“I know Walker fed off the emotion of the fans, maybe a little bit too much,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame after his team’s 6-3 win over the Miami Marlins in front of a loud Dodger Stadium crowd on 44,970. “There were some 98s there in the first inning, and I didn’t expect to see that velocity.

“But I think a lot of that was adrenaline,” added the Dodgers skipper. “I felt the last two innings were his best as far as commanding the baseball, the stuff, the efficiency of outs. But overall, it’s a huge win for all of us, and to get him back pitching, I couldn’t be more elated.”

“It made sense with how amped up I was and how fast my heart was going,” Buehler said of those 98s and whose fastballs averaged 93-94 mph in his six minor league rehabilitation starts. “You think about 22 months and now two [Tommy John] surgeries … the first fastball was 96. I looked up and said, ‘OK.’ You kind of get that ‘I-belong-here-again’ thing. It was cool.”

Although Buehler allowed three runs on six hits (including one home run) in his four-inning return, he struck out four while walking none, although he did hit a batter.

As for those six Dodgers runs, all of them were the result of home runs:

• A two-run shot to very deep center field by blazing hot Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani,
• A solo shot to left-center field immediately following by Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman,
• A two-run shot to center field by Dodgers center fielder James Outman in the bottom of the second,
• A solo shot to left field by Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández in the bottom of the third.

Stand by Dodgers fans. This is going to get good!

Play Ball!

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