DENVER —
Even before Walker Buehler took the mound Tuesday, his manager was doing some admitted “backpedaling” of expectations for the once star pitcher.
Weeks earlier, when Buehler first returned from his second career Tommy John surgery, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts guessed it would take six or seven starts for the former All-Star to get his legs back under him. Two months, Roberts predicted, and Buehler should start looking more like his old self.
On the day of Buehler’s eighth start, however, Roberts’ tone had shifted.
Before Tuesday’s game, Roberts said he didn’t “want it to feel like there’s one particular number [of starts by when] everything has to click” for Buehler.