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LOS ANGELES — Walker Buehler threw the first pitch of Monday’s game at 7:10 p.m. PT and glanced toward Dodger Stadium’s right-field scoreboard with uncertainty.

Buehler had spent parts of a 20-month rehabilitation from a second Tommy John surgery unsure what to expect. He anticipated the velocity bump that would come with the adrenaline of pitching in a major league game, but he didn’t know if it would actually show up. At times, he wondered if he’d have to adapt to pitching at slightly lower velocities. Then the results of his first pitch flashed on the board:

96 mph.

It was an early sign that things were in order. What followed was a shaky outing — three runs on six hits in four innings against a Miami Marlins offense that entered with the third-lowest OPS in the majors — but promising peripherals, chief among them the radar-gun readings. Buehler averaged 96 mph with his fastball and reached 97 and 98 mph on a handful of occasions in the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ eventual 6-3 victory. It could set the tone for his reemergence.

“I think I could be OK if I was 92-94 [mph]; I think I’m confident that way,” Buehler said. “But it helps a lot if I can throw 96 or 97. I’m very confident in my ability to do a lot of things with the ball. It’s just a lot easier for me to do it the way that I know how to do it. The idea that I can get pretty close to what I used to do, it makes it a little more attainable.”

Most of the damage against Buehler came early. The Marlins compiled three singles within the first five batters to plate two runs in the first inning, then got a leadoff homer from Nick Gordon in the second. The Dodgers overcame that with home runs from Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, James Outman and Teoscar Hernandez — all within the first three innings — and Buehler settled down thereafter.

The 29-year-old right-hander finished retiring six of the last eight batters he faced. He hit a batter, made an error by dropping a feed from Freeman, had a hard time holding runners and generally struggled to put hitters away. But he also struck out four and generated eight swings and misses — four on his cutter, two on his four-seam fastball and two on his curveball. His fastball velocity settled into the 94-95 mph range in the fourth inning merely because he was “really tired,” Buehler said. He said he’ll keep improving.

“The ceremony of it is done,” Buehler said. “Now I can kind of focus on trying to be good and helping our team. I wish it would’ve gone better. I wish I would’ve thrown five or six shutout innings and whatever. But it’s done. And I’m happy to be back.”

It was a long road.

Buehler, who had Tommy John surgery shortly after he was drafted in 2015, then again in August 2022, tried to come back for the stretch run of the 2023 season but essentially ran out of time. He began another rehab assignment near the end of March and wound up requiring six starts.

Buehler’s third outing ended prematurely when a comebacker struck his right middle finger after just 27 pitches, about 50 short of his goal. In his next two starts, he allowed 11 hits and issued six walks in a stretch of 6⅔ innings, his command clearly lacking. His ensuing start, though, finally showed progress. Buehler, a pending free agent, threw five scoreless innings with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate last Tuesday, running his pitch count to 75 and recording 15 outs for the first time. The Dodgers set an 85-pitch limit for his 2024 debut and watched him throw 77 pitches. Buehler said he was already feeling tired by the second inning.

“I’m sure tomorrow he’s going to wake up feeling like he got in a car accident,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “His whole body’s going to be sore. But that’s a good thing. And so he’ll get back to, you know, being a regular major league starter. But we got Walker Buehler back.”

When Roberts last saw Buehler, he was one of the most electric pitchers in the sport and also one of its best big-game performers. From 2018 to 2021, Buehler went 39-13 with a 2.82 ERA and 620 strikeouts in 564 innings during the regular season. But his signature moments came in October, particularly 6⅔ scoreless innings in a tiebreaker game against the Colorado Rockies in 2018, seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the ensuing World Series and, most notably, a stretch in which he allowed one run in 12 innings over the final two rounds of the 2020 playoffs, helping the Dodgers capture a championship.

Now he’ll join a rotation fronted by two major offseason additions in Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. At some point relatively soon, the Dodgers hope to get electric, young right-hander Bobby Miller back from a bout of shoulder inflammation. And in the second half, future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw should join what could be the most star-studded rotation Buehler has ever been part of.

“We’ve always had talented rotations, but this is a little bit different — especially with the two guys we have at the front of it,” Buehler said. “There’s just a lot of good things that come out of how much talent we have, how close we all are. We kind of push each other. I’m excited for that, and I just want to be a cog in that. I don’t think right now I’m going to be the No. 1 on our team, and that’s fine with me. I’ve been there before, and obviously I’m there right now. But I would like to push myself closer to that conversation. Whatever I need to do to help us win and get back to that I think is what our goals are.”

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Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

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Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer, but the Milwaukee Brewers‘ rookie phenom got the last word.

After giving up Ohtani’s 431-foot blast, Misiorowski responded with another dominant outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters — including two-way superstar Ohtani in the third inning — to lead the Brewers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

“It’s Shohei Ohtani,” Misiorowski said. “You kind of expect [that]. It’s cool to see him do it in action, but it fires me up even more coming back the next at-bat and striking him out. I’m right there. I think it was a moment of like, ‘OK, now we go.'”

Misiorowski, whose fastball routinely tops 100 mph, threw an 88.2 mph curveball on an 0-2 count to Ohtani, who crushed it for his 31st homer. That’s the most by a Dodgers player before the All-Star break.

It was the 21st career leadoff homer for the three-time MVP, who struck out swinging on a curveball in the third and walked to start the sixth. That was the only walk given up by Misiorowski, who scattered four hits.

“Really good stuff, aggressive in the zone,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But what really stood out to me was his command and control.”

Misiorowski outdueled three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts in his previous outing. Asked Monday about his matchup with Misiorowski, Kershaw said he only knew that the 6-foot-7 right-hander threw hard.

“I know him now, huh?” Kershaw said Tuesday. “That was super impressive. That was unbelievable. It was really special. Everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball. I don’t know how you hit that, honestly. That’s just really tough.”

Misiorowski was glad to get Kershaw’s attention.

“I saw something online that he didn’t now who I was, so I hope he knows me now,” Misiorowski said. “It’s kind of cool.”

In five starts since the Brewers called him up from the minors, Misiorowski has already beaten Kershaw and 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes. In another outing, Misiorowski carried a perfect game into the seventh inning.

“He’s just broken the shell,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s just out of the egg, all arms and legs. He’s still got gooey stuff coming off, you can see it, all arms and legs, but there’s something special about him.”

The numbers would indicate as much. Misiorowski is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has given up only 12 hits in 25⅔ innings.

He topped out at 101.6 mph and threw 20 pitches of at least 100 on Tuesday. He also threw 19 curveballs after using curves only 10% of the time before Tuesday.

He was coming off his only shaky performance, giving up five runs — including a grand slam by Brandon Nimmo — and three walks over 3⅔ innings Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.

It looked as if it might be more of the same after Ohtani went deep. Misiorowski responded by striking out 12 of the next 16 batters.

“I think that’s my job, is to figure it out on the fly,” he said. “I feel like I did it tonight.”

He got out of a jam in the sixth. The Dodgers trailed 2-1 and had runners on second and third with one out, but third baseman Andruw Monasterio fielded a grounder and threw out Ohtani at the plate, and Misiorowski retired Michael Conforto on a grounder.

Misiorowski pumped his fist as he headed toward the dugout, then watched the Brewers’ bullpen nail down the win.

“It’s so satisfying,” Misiorowski said. “It’s just a dream come true, to do what I did.”

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Giants walk off on Bailey’s inside-the-park homer

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Giants walk off on Bailey's inside-the-park homer

SAN FRANCISCO — Patrick Bailey hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run with one out in the ninth inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.

Bailey became just the third catcher in MLB history to hit a walk-off, inside-the-park home run, joining the Chicago Cubs’ Pat Moran in 1907 and the Washington Nationals’ Bennie Tate in 1926.

Bailey’s homer would have been an outside-the-park home run in 29 of 30 ballparks, with Oracle Park being the exception.

Mike Yastrzemski reached base twice and scored to help the Giants to their sixth win in seven games.

Casey Schmitt began the rally with a leadoff double. After Jung Hoo Lee popped out, Wilmer Flores lined a single to center.

Bailey, who grounded into a double play and struck out in two of his previous at-bats, then smashed a 1-0 fastball from Jordan Romano (1-4) into right-center field that ricocheted off the brick part of the wall.

Ryan Walker (2-3) retired one batter, with two on in the top of the ninth, to earn the win.

Phillies All-Star Kyle Schwarber had two hits, including his team-leading 28th home run.

Schwarber flew out, struck out and was hit by a pitch before homering off Giants reliever Spencer Bivens into McCovey Cove. Brandon Marsh, who singled as a pinch hitter leading off the inning, scored on the play.

Two days after being named an All-Star for the second time in his career, Robbie Ray gave up four hits and one run in 5⅔ innings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mets’ Mendoza: Snubbed Soto ‘an All-Star for us’

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Mets' Mendoza: Snubbed Soto 'an All-Star for us'

BALTIMORE — The New York Mets consider Juan Soto to be a bona fide All-Star, despite the snub he received from those who selected the National League squad for the Midsummer Classic on July 15.

Soto, in his first year with the Mets, has performed well enough to earn the respect of his manager and teammates. In their opinion, he’s deserving of a place in the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta.

“He’s an All-Star for us,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday night after the Mets beat Baltimore 7-6. “It’s frustrating, but I’m hoping in the next couple of days we hear something and he makes it.”

Soto drove in the winning run with a sharp single on the first pitch of the 10th inning. That capped a night in which he went 3 for 5 to raise his batting average to .269 with 21 homers and 52 RBIs.

Soto has walked 72 times, by far the most in the majors, but he can also lash out at a pitcher when necessary.

“He’s got a pretty good understanding of what the pitchers are trying to do to him,” Mendoza said. “There is his awareness of the game, he’s going to see pitchers. There are times when he’s going to be aggressive. Tonight was one of those nights. First pitch in the 10th, he’s attacking.”

Soto made the All-Star team as a member of the Nationals, Padres and Yankees each year since 2021. The streak appears to be over. But his teammates believe he deserves to go.

“What he done all year is just incredible, and the results are good enough,” Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes said. “The consistency he’s showed up with, at the at-bats he’s taken, is more than an All-Star. He’s one of the best in the game and a big part of our lineup.”

Soto seems rather philosophical about the snub.

“Sometimes, you’re going to make it and sometimes you don’t,” he told reporters after Sunday’s loss to the Yankees. “It’s just part of baseball.”

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