LOS ANGELES -- Walker Buehler's quest for a spot in the Dodgers’ playoff rotation remains in limbo after an old friend derailed his night early.

Cody Bellinger returned to Dodger Stadium on Monday and hit a two-run home run off Buehler four batters into the game. Another former Dodger, Michael Busch, added a home run among four hits and three RBIs as the Cubs found some offense to earn a 10-4 victory.

Buehler was charged with five runs on nine hits with a walk over five-plus innings. While it was Buehler’s longest outing in his five starts since returning from a hip injury last month, it was also the most runs and hits he has allowed in the stretch.

Buehler called the outing “unacceptable,” but teammate Freddie Freeman was quick to jump to the right-hander’s defense.

“See, I thought he did alright,” Freeman said. “Going with Busch’s home run, it was 92 [mph] off his bat, perfectly placed right on the line. Cody ambushed a 0-0 heater. I know the numbers won’t say it, but I thought he did pretty good. When you miss that much time, you have to find your positives, and I thought he did just fine.”

After Jack Flaherty, the Dodgers are looking for a viable No. 2 starter as October approaches, with another candidate set to step forward Tuesday when right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is expected to return from the injured list.

Since Aug. 14, Buehler is 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA in five starts. He has 18 strikeouts in 22 innings, but has also allowed 11 walks with five home runs in that span.

In the first inning alone, Buehler has a 9.69 ERA this season, with four home runs allowed.

“I screwed us from the jump,” Buehler said. “Obviously three runs in the first kind of sucked the energy out of the building. It's hard, the first inning's been a weird thing for me this year. That's a lot to ask of the rest of our guys to dig me out of a hole every game."

Making the optics even worse is that the Cubs managed to score just two total runs during a three-game series against the New York Yankees this past weekend. The Cubs were shut out both Friday and Saturday before a 2-1 victory Sunday.

If there was anything to cling to, it was Shohei Ohtani’s 47th stolen base as he inched closer to the first 50-50 season in MLB history.

“I think the positives were [Buehler] got better as the game went on,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought there were some command issues, clearly. … I wanted to get him through that sixth inning, but ... I thought the stuff was good. The fastball velocity, there was some swing-and-miss in there. The slider at times was good and the cutter was good at times. Just overall, the command wasn’t quite there.”

At this point, the Dodgers have three more turns through the rotation before the end of the regular season, with Clayton Kershaw (toe) and Tyler Glasnow (elbow) also trying to make their way back to the starting staff.

Buehler has been saying he feels more and more like himself after each start, but Monday’s outing failed to match his building confidence.

"Performance-wise, obviously a pretty big step backward from the past two,” Buehler said. “The only positive thing I guess is kind of a long first [inning] and getting into the sixth.”

With 15 games of playoff experience, including a win in the 2020 World Series against the Rays, Buehler is well aware of what the postseason is all about. But early deficits in playoff games are far from ideal, and Buehler has yet to show he can get up to speed from the outset.

"At the end of the day, I've got to perform and I've kind of said that for a long time,” Buehler said. “I’ve got to perform for myself, but more for our team. We're trying to get into the end of a race here and whether I pitch in the playoffs or not, we need to make the playoffs and be in a good spot and let the guys that have carried us all year carry us wherever we're gonna go.”

Roberts sounds hopeful that Buehler can be effective by the time October arrives. With the state of the current rotation, he is running out of options.

“It’s hard to pitch consistently and effectively and efficiently if you don’t have the margin [for error],” Roberts said. “I will say, yeah, when he does make a mistake it seems like he pays for it. Even when it’s not that bad a pitch, he’s not getting that easy out.”