NEW YORK — Sometimes, one pitch in the second inning can save a baseball game. Sometimes, it can salvage an entire season for a player.

In the bottom of the second of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night, Walker Buehler faced Francisco Lindor, bases loaded, two outs, Buehler’s Los Angeles Dodgers leading Lindor’s New York Mets 2-0.

It’s been a trying season for Buehler, the one-time postseason star who returned after missing most of 2022 and all of 2023 following the second Tommy John surgery of his career. He made 16 starts in the regular season — and won once, posting a 5.38 ERA. This is a pitcher who won 16 games in 2021 with a 2.47 ERA, a pitcher who threw seven scoreless innings in a World Series game as a rookie, who allowed three runs over a 21-inning stretch in the 2020 postseason when the Dodgers won it all.

He’s in the playoff rotation now only because the Dodgers didn’t have any other healthy options. In his start against the Padres in the NL Division Series, he allowed six runs in one inning.

Wednesday night, the count ran full to Lindor, as Buehler stuck with his four-seam fastball and knuckle-curve. With the count 3-2, catcher Will Smith called for the curve. Buehler threw it, it dived wonderfully below Lindor’s knees, and the Mets star swung and missed.

It’s not the pitch Buehler would have turned to when he was at his peak as one of the hardest-throwing young right-handers in the game.

“Oh, in 2018, 2019, 2020, I would have thrown a fastball. Yeah,” he said after the game.

The Dodgers rolled from there to an 8-0 victory and 2-1 series lead — their remarkable fourth shutout in five playoff games, going back to blanking the Padres in the final two games of the NLDS. Buehler and four relievers combined for the shutout this time as the Dodgers matched the 1905 New York Giants and 2020 Atlanta Braves in throwing four shutouts over a five-game postseason span.

While Buehler’s final line of four scoreless innings may not enter Dodgers lore, he’ll take it at this point of his season.

“Honestly, the only point of pride I’ve had in the past couple of months has been trying to get deep in the games and be efficient,” he said. “To only throw four innings is like the complete opposite of that. But I’m proud just for a different reason in terms of being able to get through some big spots and tough spots.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to Buehler’s season and agreed that the game turned with the Lindor strikeout.

“I think it’s been a lot of lessons that he’s had to learn, and appreciating, understanding the pitcher he is today,” Roberts said. “And also appreciating the fact that you just can’t give in to Lindor in that moment. Right there, that was the pitch of the game. Obviously, the crowd was into it. They were gaining momentum. To get the breaking ball down below the zone and get a great hitter out was huge. And I think that just kind of speaks to experience.”

On a cold — 56 degrees at game time — and windy night at Citi Field, the weather may have helped Buehler record a season-best 18 swings and misses, matching his career playoff high. He had reached double figures just three times all season, and in his five-inning outing against the Padres in the NLDS had just eight.

“I think the cold really affects the ball weirdly,” he said. “The ball moves really well here, or kind of always has. I think the cold just makes the ball act a little bit funky.”

Facing a Mets lineup that featured seven right-handed batters, Buehler also relied more heavily on his sweeper than he has of late, throwing it a season-high 21 times out of his 90 pitches. He escaped a two-on jam in the third inning by getting J.D. Martinez to wave helplessly at a 2-2 sweeper.

“I guess it was the colder weather,” Smith said. “It was moving a lot. It was just consistent-count situations where he just kind of needed to lean on it. I felt like it was working, and it was, so lean on it a little more than normal.”

The Mets agreed with the cold-weather assessment, as well.

“From the last time I faced him, yeah, his ball was moving more,” Lindor said. “I feel like he executed his pitches. He made me chase when he wanted me to chase, and he threw strikes when he wanted to throw strikes. Bottom line, it came down to who executed the most, and he did that.”

After Buehler’s departure, the bullpen took over — Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen and then rookie Ben Casparius for the final two innings. Maybe they, too, benefited from the weather.

“Our relievers that came in, I was looking at their big-boy metrics,” Buehler said. “I don’t know the crosswinds and what happens, but all five of my pitches were kind of a little bit bigger or weirder or acted different than normal. I don’t think it was just a curveball. Yeah, it’s just an interesting environment to pitch in here in the cold.”

The Dodgers will take it.

Kiké Hernández‘s two-run home run and then Shohei Ohtani‘s towering three-run blast allowed Roberts not to use Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson, two of his other top relievers. No doubt, we’ll see plenty of that bullpen again in Game 4 on Thursday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting and not expected to go very deep into the game.

Until then, Buehler can enjoy playing a key role in an important Dodgers victory.

“I try not to give into in the playoffs especially and sometimes that leads to a pitch count problem or walking more guys than you typically would,” he said. “But this game in October is about having zeros, and I’m proud of the fact that I was able to do that four times.”

National League batting champion Luis Arraez of the San Diego Padres said he underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb Wednesday.

Arraez said he played through the injury for the entire second half of the season. He injured it June 25 against the Washington Nationals on a headfirst slide into third base on a triple.

“Today, I underwent surgery on my thumb after pushing through an injured half of the season,” Arraez wrote on X. “Despite the pain, I continued to play, but it became clear that surgery was necessary to fully recover. The procedure went smoothly, and I’m now focused on healing and getting back.”

Today, I underwent surgery on my thumb after pushing through an injured half of the season. Despite the pain, I continued to play, but it became clear that surgery was necessary to fully recover. The procedure went smoothly, and I’m now focused on healing and getting back🦾🙏🏽🚿 pic.twitter.com/pd1bP93N2d

— Luis Arraez (@Arraez_21) October 16, 2024

A team spokesman, per MLB.com, said Arraez was expected to resume hitting in about eight weeks and should be fully healthy for the start of spring training.

Arraez batted .314 this season while winning his third consecutive batting title. He is the first player to win three straight titles with three different teams — he won the American League crown in 2022 with the Minnesota Twins and also won the NL title with the Miami Marlins in 2023.

Arraez, 27, had 200 hits this season, his second straight year reaching the milestone. He also had four homers, 24 doubles and 41 RBIs in 150 games between the Padres (117) and Marlins (33).

San Diego acquired Arraez from the Marlins for four minor leaguers in early May.

In 2022, Arraez batted .316 for the Twins and .354 for Miami in 2023.

Overall, Arraez has a .323 average with 28 homers and 247 RBIs in 686 career games over six seasons with the Twins (2019-22), Marlins (2023-24) and Padres.

Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.

CLEVELAND — Left-hander Matthew Boyd will start for the Cleveland Guardians in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees on Thursday.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt made the announcement prior to a team workout at Progressive Field, a day before what’s shaping up as a must-win game for Cleveland.

The Yankees won both games in New York to start the series, but Vogt said he is confident his team is ready to respond.

“We’re always confident going into every game,” Vogt said. “We love playing at home. We love playing in front of our fans. I think for us, knowing we have three games here, we feel really good about it.”

Boyd, 33, signed as a free agent with Cleveland in late July and went 2-2 with a 2.72 ERA over eight starts. The veteran has limited postseason experience — seven innings over 10 big league seasons — but he is yet to be scored upon during those frames.

“I’ve spent the better parts of nine seasons watching the playoffs from home,” Boyd said. “I also had one year in Seattle [where he pitched in the postseason, in 2022]. It’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘Man, I know my time is going to come to get to do that.'”

Boyd started two games for Cleveland during its AL Division Series win against the Detroit Tigers, throwing 6⅔ innings with 10 strikeouts. He will square off against New York righty Clarke Schmidt, who had previously been announced as the Yankees’ starter for Thursday’s game.

Schmidt allowed two runs over 4⅔ innings in New York’s Game 3 win of the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals. His first postseason experience came in two relief outings against the Guardians in a 2022 ALDS series. One of those appearances was at Progressive Field, when he allowed a run and three hits in ⅓ of an inning.

At the very least, Schmidt knows what to expect.

“Having those experiences and kind of understanding what that environment is like, especially in that situation that I was in, back end of the game, I think it was probably the rowdiest part of the game,” Schmidt said. “I think you have a lot of takeaways from there, and I’ve learned a lot from that and being able to take bits and pieces from that and try to adjust my game.”

The first two games of the series have been ragged, especially for Cleveland, which was plagued by errors, wild pitches, walks and a lack of production with runners on base. While it’s not what the Guardians hoped for on this big stage, Boyd says his team remains unbowed.

“We know what we’re about,” Boyd said. “Our record speaks for itself. We did it in the regular season. We know what we’re made of. We’re just going to go play our game.”