Red Sox starter not ready to say ‘I'm back' after great outing, but pushing to keep spot ahead of trade deadline

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PHILADELPHIA — With next week's trade deadline approaching — and the Red Sox expected to upgrade their roster — it's fair to assume some players on the current roster could find themselves in different roles by the time the calendar flips to August. On Monday, Walker Buehler took a step toward staking his case that he should remain in Boston's rotation no matter who Craig Breslow brings in to fortify it.
The Red Sox are confident in a top three of Garrett Crochet, Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello but are looking for a rotation addition to fortify a group that will be without Hunter Dobbins and, most likely, Tanner Houck, for the stretch run. Right now, Buehler and rookie Richard Fitts have the final two spots. And Buehler, who posted his best outing in months Monday with seven strong innings against the Phillies, intends on putting up a fight to keep his turn every five days.
'I keep seeing all this stuff about guys starting playoff games. At this point, I'm not a guy that can do that,' said Buehler, who entered the outing with a 6.12 ERA in 16 starts. 'My whole career, that's what I've done and done really well. I think that's the goal, to stay in that conversation to start playoff games when we get there.'
After a horrific June in which Buehler posted an 11.07 ERA and recorded an out in the fifth inning just once, the Red Sox decided to keep him in the rotation and hope the between-starts work he was doing would manifest on the mound. It did, first in a five-inning outing against the Nationals on July 5, then with six strong inning against Tampa Bay on July 10. Buehler's biggest step forward, though, came Monday at Citizens Bank Park after an 11-day layoff that included a visit to the Maven Baseball Lab, a biomechanics center in Atlanta.
'I've been talking to some biomechanic people, a couple different ones,' Buehler said. 'Went to a place that specializes that in Atlanta. To be honest with you, just having different conversations with different people will spark things. I found a couple new cues that make everything feel a little bit more normal. Now it's just honing that in with a little more violence.
Facing a potent Phillies team — and lined up against ace Zack Wheeler — Buehler didn't cower, needing an efficient 89 pitches to get through seven innings for the first time since April. He allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out four and walking one.
Buehler threw 61 of his 89 pitches (68.5%) for strikes.
'The stuff was really good,' said manager Alex Cora. 'He was throwing strikes, he was ahead of hitters and he was able to put them away. That was a good performance.
'We talked about it before the All-Star break that he was getting close. He did a lot of good things on the All-Star break to continue to keep momentum and today, that was a great outing against a good offensive club.'
Handed a 1-0 lead when Jarren Duran led off the game with a solo homer off Wheeler, Buehler carved his way through consistent Phillies traffic. He got inning-ending double plays in the second and third before Philadelphia put together three hits and took the lead in the fourth. The righty then retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced and left with a no-decision in a game the Sox lost, 3-2, on a catcher's interference call in the 10th inning.
Being able to keep things from spiraling was key for Buehler, who said his arm isn't where it usually is at this point in the season because his struggles — and an injured list stint in late April and early May — have put him behind.
'My last three have been a big improvement on the six or eight before that. I feel like I'm on the right track,' he said. 'This one in particular, I felt a lot more normal. When I threw the ball, it was in the zone, regardless of what I was trying to do with it.
'The way I was brought up in in this game and how I learned growing up was that if you don't have your best stuff, you try to get the ball on the ground and eat innings and get through games. I felt like tonight was as good as my delivery has been but my arm's a little bit behind that. It's not like I went and punched 10.'
The Red Sox have been pleased with Buehler's pitch mix all season and the ex-Dodger used all seven of his offerings to keep the Phillies off balance Monday. His fastball averaged 94.1 mph and he threw his slider 30 times.
'The stuff, even before the last three, we always thought the stuff was good,' said Cora. 'It was just a matter of making adjustments and he's getting closer to the strike zone now. His pitches are all competitive.'
Buehler feels like he's still going through a bit of an adjustment period after making drastic changes to his delivery and mechanics in an attempt to get out of his rut. But he is able to take some solace in the fact he's getting results — including a 3.00 ERA in 19 July innings — while the work is still ongoing.
'Definitely positive, but I don't think this was the best game of my career or anything like that,' he said. 'A positive step forward, but not the end all and be all.
'Definitely, it's one of those teams where if you threw the ball well, you knew you threw the ball well. It's a big thing for me, internal, but at the end of the day, I had 16 or 17 that weren't what I want. I'm not gonna lay everything down and say, 'I'm back' after one. But it definitely feels good for me personally.'
Buehler, of course, isn't happy with the fact he owns a 5.72 ERA through 17 outings this season. But the Red Sox, as a club, have weathered those struggles to be in contention with two months to go. A solid second half — and potentially some playoff contributions — would go a long way toward salvaging the one-year, $21.05 million deal the Red Sox handed Buehler in December.
'We're gonna need this guy,' said catcher Carlos Narváez.
BETTING: The Red Sox +1.5 runline is listed at -108 on DraftKings for Tuesday's game versus Philadelphia. If you're curious about how to bet on sports, visit our Massachusetts sports betting guide for beginners.
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Read the original article on MassLive.