Buehler believes fastball woes are temporary

It’s only Spring Training, but it wasn’t the start Walker Buehler was hoping for.

Buehler struck out five and allowed nine runs on 10 hits in the Dodgers’ 9-6 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday. The Dodgers’ right-hander gave up four home runs, two to Keston Hiura. His spring ERA, which will mean nothing come April 1, is now 8.10 in five starts.

“[When] you give up nine runs in 4 2/3 innings, there’s not a whole lot worse you can do,” Buehler said. “Hopefully that’s as bad as I am all year.”

Buehler attributed the struggles to his fastball not being where it needed to be. He said he fell behind in the count too many times and got into predictable fastball counts. When the Brewers got a heater, they didn’t miss it.

Problems with the fastball have been an issue for Buehler throughout camp. The fastball velocity has been around 93-94 mph for most of the spring. It averaged 96.8 mph last season.

“I felt good about it my last outing against the White Sox,” Buehler said. “You kind of hope and believe that the adrenaline of the season, it’ll kind of jump up a little bit. I feel OK about it. I don’t feel ecstatic about it.”

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While Tuesday didn’t go as Buehler planned, Spring Training has, overall, been a successful for him. He has gone through an entire spring for the first time and will start the season without any restrictions, if his next start goes as planned.

“You want to be successful, you want to go home confident with what you did,” Buehler said. “But at the end of the day, that’s what this is for, to build up. So we’ll take that as a positive, I guess, and try to work on some of the stuff that went wrong.”

Buehler’s next outing will come either Sunday or Monday against the Angels in the Freeway Series, his last tuneup before the regular season.

'B' game plans
David Price started a “B” game on Tuesday against the Indians. The left-hander got through four innings and threw about 60 pitches, according to manager Dave Roberts.

“He pitched well,” Roberts said. “Everything 91-93 [mph]. The changeup, the breaking ball, all that stuff was good. He came out of it positive as well.”

Price is competing for one of the two open slots in the Dodgers’ rotation, but the veteran has expressed his willingness to move into the bullpen. He’ll pitch in one of the games during the Freeway Series, but Roberts said they haven’t decided whether he’ll make his appearance as a starter or as a reliever.

While the Dodgers won’t play in a Cactus League game on Wednesday, Julio Urías and Jimmy Nelson are scheduled to pitch in a “B” game in order to continue their buildup. Urías is battling for a rotation spot. Nelson is trying to make the roster as a non-roster invitee.