An electric Walker Buehler starts in San Diego

Cy Young contender Walker Buehler starts on the mound for the Dodgers tonight against the San Diego Padres, but he doesn’t seem too concerned about the award. Buehler has his eyes on the playoff prize instead, and he’s delivering.

In his last start on August 20, Buehler threw a season-high 7 ⅔ innings and looked sharp the whole way through. He struck out eight and gave up two runs—which should have been one, if you ask Buehler, who got tossed after arguing with the home plate umpire over whether an RBI hit from Pete Alonso went off the batter’s foot.

Buehler was on his way out of the game to be replaced by Alex Vesia anyways, but that energy could serve the Dodgers well tonight. Buehler’s electricity, combined with a slowing Padres offense that mustered only three hits on Tuesday night, might be just the ticket to motivate the Dodgers’ own inconsistent offense toward a sweep and prevent them from losing further ground against the San Francisco Giants in the standings.

“He’s not arrogant in a bad way,” Ross Stripling told ESPN after Buehler’s rookie season. “He’s arrogant in an awesome way.”

The Padres, now one game behind the Cincinnati Reds in a standings battle of their own as they fight for a wild card spot, will give Blake Snell the start. Snell enters the game with a 2.35 ERA in his three games against the Dodgers this season but has allowed 65 walks, the most of any starter this year, while the Dodgers hold the second-highest total of walked batters in 2021.

Game Info

Teams: Dodgers (79-47) at Padres (68-59)

Location: Petco Park, San Diego

Time: 7:10 p.m.

TV: SportsNet LA, ESPN