Walker Buehler allows 4 home runs as Dodgers rotation gets sorted out

For the second straight day, a Dodgers starting pitcher allowed three home runs in an inning of an exhibition game. On Tuesday it was Walker Buehler, who allowed four home runs in total in a 9-6 loss to the Brewers in Maryvale.

Milwaukee hit three solo home runs in the first inning off Buehler, one day after Trevor Bauer allowed three home runs in the fifth inning in Peoria. The hits kept coming for the Brewers, including Keston Hiura, who homered in each of the first two frames.

“You give up nine runs in 4⅔, there’s not a whole lot worse you can do,” Buehler said. “Hopefully that’s as bad as I am all year.”

Buehler’s day was done after allowing 10 hits and striking out five. He threw 83 pitches.

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

Buehler will start once more this spring, facing the Angels in the Freeway Series, either on Sunday in Anaheim or Monday at Dodger Stadium. David Price, who pitched four innings in a B game against Cleveland on Tuesday at Camelback Ranch, is also expected to pitch next on Sunday or Monday, in a role not yet revealed.

Notes

• Julio Urías and Jimmy Nelson will pitch in a B game at Camelback Ranch on Wednesday’s off day.
• The Dodgers’ next game is Thursday night against the Cubs in Mesa. Dustin May starts on the mound.
• Tony Gonsolin, who last pitched on Sunday, will be stretched out to five or six innings in his next outing, which sure sounds like someone who would be in the starting rotation. It’s likely Gonsolin will pitch in a B game, since his next outing will likely coincide with either Clayton Kershaw on Friday or Trevor Bauer on Saturday.
• When asked what percentage likelihood that both May and Gonsolin would be on the opening day roster, Dave Roberts said, “I would say there’s a good chance.”
• Roberts has said this a few times this spring, but reiterated on Tuesday that the Dodgers plan to start the season with five starting pitchers in the rotation.
• Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland, who was slated to pitch the second game of the season, against the Dodgers, left his spring start early on Tuesday with a shoulder strain. Patrick Saunders at the Denver Post has more.