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Early wake-up call offers plenty of time for Red Sox’ Walker Buehler to be his best | Sean McAdam
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- Early wake-up call offers plenty of time for Red Sox’ Walker Buehler to be his best | Sean McAdam
BOSTON — In the estimation of his manager, no other Red Sox pitcher has a pre-game routine as detailed as Walker Buehler .
"It doesn't matter if it's 7 (p.m.) or 11 o'clock," said Alec Cora Monday morning. "He's on-point. It's not like it takes him a long time to get ready. But there's a lot of moving parts throughout his process."
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The veteran righthander is known for his studiousness, but with an 11:10 a.m. scheduled start for his Patriots Day assignment against the Chicago White Sox , Buehler had to begin his homework the night before.
He stayed at a nearby hotel to cut down on his commuting time, arriving at Fenway around 7:30 a.m — a record in his career.
(The closest before Monday, he revealed, was a start in Double A in 2017 when a Sponge Bob, Square Pants promotion resulted in another late-morning start).
On Sunday night, armed with an IPad, he pored over scouting reports for the White Sox starting lineup and reserves. Ordinarily, he leaves four or five hitters to study day of game, but the early start time took that luxury away. His work had to be completed before he went to sleep Sunday night.
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"I don't really like going out there unless I'm prepared," he said.
Buehler preparation paid obvious dividends as he gave the Red Sox seven innings during which he allowed just one run on four hits while striking out nine in a 4-2 victory over the White Sox. It marked his third consecutive strong start after he allowed a total of nine runs in his first two outings this season.
For all his pre-game work, the game did not begin particularly well for Buehler. He allowed singles to each of the first two hitters he faced, and a one-out groundout produced an early 1-0 lead for the White Sox.
"It wasn't necessarily pitches that I wasn't happy with the execution," he said, "but maybe not in those spots or those counts."
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Whatever adjustments Buehler made thereafter, they worked. After the first inning, he gave the Red Sox six scoreless innings and allowed just two more hits to earn his third win of the season.
Gone are the day when Buehler could regularly pump 96-97 mph with his fastball. Two Tommy John surgeries and the passing of his 30th birthday have mandated that he compete less as a flamethrower and more as a pitcher.
In an era when extreme velocity of coveted, Buehler can beat you with his brain, too.
Of course, it helps some that he also has as deep a repertoire as any starter on the Red Sox staff, capable of unleashing any one of three fastballs (four-seamer, two-seamer and cutter) to go with his curveball and changeup.
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His many options provide him with various ways to attack a lineup, depending on the quality of his stuff on a given day.
"I think largely having that number of options gives you usually two or three things that you feel confident with to every guy," said Buehler. "The trick is kind of disguising those two or three things that you really want to do and finding spots for certain things you may not want to get a guy out with, but you want to throw in there.
"I always talked about 10-10-10. You have your 'A' stuff for 10 of your starts, your 'B' stuff for 10....and whatnot. For me, it was a good day and I'm glad I got through it."
Except for a brief bit of wildness to open the third when he issued back-to-back walks, Buehler's start was largely without strife after the first. From the second through the seventh, except for the third, he pitched to one two batters over the minimum.
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Facing a largely inexperienced White Sox lineup, Buehler could mix-and-match without much worry.
He was pleased, too, to get his pitch count to 100 (exactly) for the first time this season.
"I think we're always hunting for a little bit better, a little bit more, a little bit this, a little bit that," said Buehler. "But today was a good example for me in terms of working with whatever we had going and staying within that realm and not be hunting for 95-96 mph, and kind of pitch a little more."
"He's been solid for us," said Cora in assessing his starter after five turns through the rotation. "He's getting there. He's not there yet. On a bad day, he'll go five (innings) and give us a chance to win. Today was solid, and he gave us seven."
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