LOS ANGELES — What a day for Walker Buehler. The rookie with the preternatural calm pitched the Los Angeles Dodgers to a record sixth consecutive NL West title.
Buehler tossed one-hit ball into the seventh inning, and Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy launched two-run homers to beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 in a tiebreaker on Monday.
“It’s a normal baseball game. It’s hyped up, there’s an adrenaline, but you got to execute,” Buehler said. “That’s all you can do.”
The defending NL champion Dodgers became the first major league team to win six straight division crowns since the Yankees captured nine AL East titles in a row from 1998-2006.
“It doesn’t get old,” said Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
Los Angeles now hosts Atlanta in the best-of-five NL Division Series beginning Thursday.
“We’re going to beat Atlanta,” Yasiel Puig proclaimed. “No matter who’s coming, we’re going to the World Series and bring the 2018 championship here.”
Denied their first division title in franchise history, the Rockies head to Wrigley Field to play the Chicago Cubs in the NL wild-card game on Tuesday night.
“Our guys will put it in the rearview for sure,” Rockies Manager Bud Black said of the loss. “The resiliency of this group has been awesome all year.”
Pitching in 90-degree heat, Buehler was oh-so-cool in closing out a regular season that ended with Game 163 after both teams had identical records of 91-71.
The soft-spoken, 24-year-old from Lexington, Kentucky, has been so steady of late that Manager Dave Roberts had no qualms about giving Buehler the ball for the crucial game that helped decide the Dodgers’ postseason fate.
“He’s ready for this moment,” Roberts said, “and he responded.”
Buehler’s only slip-up came on the field after the game when he let loose with an inadvertent expletive, having been handed the mic after fans demanded to hear from him.
He clasped his hand to his mouth and apologized.
Buehler settled in quickly, retiring his first six batters in a row, and never did allow a run.
Buehler (8-5) had his no-hit bid broken up in the sixth on Charlie Blackmon’s single, one of his two hits for the Rockies.
“He didn’t fold at all under pressure,” Muncy said.
Buehler even helped himself offensively, hitting a single in the sixth for his first professional RBI and extending the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0.
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