Dodgers held in check by Walker Buehler, lose opener to Padres
SAN DIEGO - The Rage Against the Machine warmup song was familiar – "Bulls on Parade." But post-evolutionary Walker Buehler has changed.
Less bull and more guile now, Buehler held his former team to one run on three hits over 5⅓ innings and the San Diego Padres broke the game open late, beating the Dodgers, 7-1, on Friday night in the opener of a weekend series at Petco Park – and the first of seven meetings in the next 10 days.
"Badly," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when asked how much he thought Buehler would like to beat the Dodgers in his first chance to face them on the opposite side of this rivalry. "He would love nothing more than to shove it up our you-know-whats. We know that. We love him for it."
Buehler has been on a voyage of re-discovery since closing out the 2025 World Series with his last pitch for the Dodgers. It's beginning to work with the Padres. He has a 3.81 ERA in 16 starts for the Padres after posting a 4.93 mark with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies last season.
"His command was really good tonight," Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said of his former teammate. "He was mixing his pitches – but he's always done that. Just the way it looks, he's a couple years removed from losing his velocity. That happens when you have injuries. I just think he's learned how to navigate that.
"He's a very smart pitcher. He always has been. I think it's just took time for him to learn what his arsenal was and go from there."
The fastball that once averaged 96.8 mph averaged 94.1 mph against the team that made him their first-round draft pick in 2015, paid for his two Tommy John surgeries and sent him to the mound 131 times in his first seven major-league seasons (plus 19 more times in five postseasons).
But he only threw the four-seam fastball 18 times against the Dodgers, relying instead on a cutter and slider while mixing in an assortment of changeups, knuckle curves, sweepers and sinkers.
"He's reinventing himself," Roberts said after the game. "He's throwing the kitchen sink at you. Cutter, slider, changeup, two-seamers. He doesn't just try to bully you, and he's finding ways to just get guys out."
Mookie Betts turned on one of those four-seamers, Buehler's first pitch of the second inning, and sent it into the left-field seats for his third home run in seven games (and sixth hit in 11 at-bats).
That was all the damage the Dodgers could do against Buehler.
Meanwhile, Roki Sasaki's own voyage of self-discovery hit another pothole.
Sasaki struggled with his control early, walking three of the first five batters he faced including Manny Machado (on a 10-pitch struggle) and Gavin Sheets back-to-back to start the second inning.
The Padres cashed those in when Sasaki rolled an 0-and-2 slider over the plate to Ty France and he sent it into the left-field seats for a three-run home run.
"Today's game I really struggled to throw strikes. There's a lot of things I need to work on and I need to go over that," Sasaki said through his interpreter.
"I actually felt different than I never felt before, mechanically. So I need to go over it and see what was really happening. But overall I am trending in the right direction so I'm just going to keep working on it."
He gave up a leadoff double to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the fifth inning then issued his fifth walk of the game, bringing Roberts out of the dugout. It was the second time in three starts since he pitched seven scoreless innings against the Angels that Sasaki has failed to complete five innings.
Sasaki might think he is "trending in the right direction" overall. But the numbers do not agree. He has given up 13 runs in 14 innings since that start seemed to signal a breakthrough in his development.
"I am a little surprised, because there was such good momentum going on," Roberts said. "But the last – I don't know if it's the last one or the one before – where it just wasn't what he was doing in May. Hopefully we can get him back to throwing the way he did in May."
In May, Sasaki walked only six in 28⅓ innings while striking out 28. In his past three starts, he has walked nine and given up four home runs.
"I know that there's confidence in there, but when you feel good and you don't feel good mechanically and can’t execute pitches, yeah, then the results are walks, and 1-2 homers, and things like that," Roberts said.
"I'm surprised that he can't repeat it start to start, certainly recently, but I do think that we unlocked something where the velocity came back. But yeah, to kind of take a step back with the command is a little surprising. But I don't think that he's lost that feel for the power, because the velocity is still there."
Jack Dreyer cleaned up Sasaki's mess in the fifth inning and the bullpen kept it close at 3-1 until the ninth inning when the Padres scored four times against Jonathan Hernandez.
Buehler walked Andy Pages with one out in the sixth and Padres manager Craig Stammen went to the bullpen. Freddie Freeman doubled off lefty Yuki Matsui and an intentional walk of Betts loaded the bases. But Muncy popped out and Kyle Tucker flew out to center field.
The Dodgers put two runners on with one out against Adrian Morejon in the eighth, but Betts bounced into a double play. By the time they batted again in the ninth, the game was no longer close.
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This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 9:57 PM.