Red Sox Pitcher Walker Buehler Breaks Down Rocky Start Vs. Angels

Walker Buehler has not been the pitcher the Boston Red Sox were hoping for when they signed him this offseason. His subpar season continued on Monday when he allowed five earned runs over four innings, striking out three and walking seven in the process.

He didn’t take the loss due to a strong offensive output, but the Red Sox fell to the Los Angeles Angels, 9-5.

Buehler was very blunt about what went wrong when he talked to the media after the game, as seen on the NESN postgame show.

“You can’t walk seven guys in a major league baseball game and expect to be successful,” Buehler said. “At the end of the day, if you don’t execute and you don’t throw strikes, you really don’t have a chance.”

The issue for Buehler isn’t a lack of effort. He spoke about his performance after the game and shared his disappointment in how his season has gone so far.

“I want to contribute to this team so badly,” Buehler said. “I’ve enjoyed being here so much outside of my own performance.”

The righty also talked about trying different pitch mixes. Buehler used his four-seamer 39 percent of the time against righties, and his sinker just 10 percent, marking a change from his previous few outings, where he used a more sinker-heavy approach.

The four-seam doesn’t appear to be the path forward for Buehler. He’s thrown 109 of them to righties this year, and returned just two whiffs. They’re also hitting .500 against it.

In his previous start against the Seattle Mariners, he threw just two four-seam fastballs to righties. That approach worked better, as righties were 0-5 with two walks compared to 3-11 with six walks and a home run allowed.

Buehler is slated to face the Blue Jays in his next start on Sunday at Fenway. He’s been much better at home, where he has a 3.31 ERA in six starts. His road ERA is now up to 9.49.