Walker Buehler took the mound in the fourth and showed sharp command early. He opened the inning with a strikeout, mixing a cutter and a curve to get the hitter looking. The next batter, though, made him pay for a fastball out over the plate, lining it for a double. Buehler didn’t let it shake him. He locked back in and started playing with speed and location, mixing a heavy two-seam at 95 mph with breaking pitches in the 70s.
Julio Rodríguez stepped in and gave Buehler a solid test. After a weird half-swing on a slider for strike one, Buehler challenged him with a hard sinker that dove over the plate for strike two. Buehler thought he had him on a curve, looked in disbelief that the ump didn’t ring him up, then had to reset. He worked him with back-to-back sweeping sliders, trying to induce a chase, but Rodríguez held off. Buehler then attacked with a sweeper in the zone, which was fouled back, before going sinker again. The sequence repeated what had worked earlier: sweeper, sinker, curveball. Rodríguez was on it but couldn’t do damage. He lifted a ball into the outfield weakly, and the inning moved on.
Buehler wrapped up the frame with another out, flashing more offspeed to keep the lefty off balance. He looked in control again, bouncing back well after the early double. His mix of breaking balls, high-velocity sinkers, and confidence made it a strong inning aside from the one hit.