Dodgers' Dave Roberts doesn't exactly give Walker Buehler a vote of confidence after recent start

What happened to Walker Buehler? Seriously — what happened, and can it be fixed? Is this really the best the Dodgers have?

Buehler made his 10th start of the season on Tuesday against the Mariners, his second after a two-month absence with a hip problem. He spent one month at a private facility in Florida prior to his return, trying to rework his mechanics, then another back with the organization, adding a two-week rehab stay in Triple-A. His first start back in the majors on Aug. 14 did not indicate that the time away had helped at all; he pitched 3 1/3 innings and gave up four runs, including a homer and four walks.

He didn't fare much better against Seattle. He went four innings and gave up seven hits and four walks for the Mariners' only three runs on the night. He was lucky that the Dodgers' offense clicked into another gear to support him — a game-winning, three-run shot from Jason Heyward was the highlight — but the command isn't there, the longevity isn't there.

After the game, Dave Roberts said, "I don’t think there’s a set number of starts that you can look at [for Buehler] and honestly, we don’t have another alternative right now. [...] It's not ideal" (subscription required).

Dave Roberts didn't seem optimistic about Walker Buehler's season after recent blowup against Mariners

Buehler did say that he felt better during this start. He said, "I’m so tired of saying that I feel closer, but … that’s as close as I’ve felt to the me of old as I’ve felt this year. I’ve been saying this, but I gotta perform and gotta perform, but I feel like I can actually perform now."

Can he, though? His final line doesn't look great upon first glance, but he didn't really pass the eye test, either. His best at-bat of the night was the one that brought him his one and only strikeout on the evening, when he painted the bottom of the zone against Leo Rivas to get him on five pitches. Otherwise, he had to battle through those four innings, averaging 20.5 pitches thrown per inning with only a 28 CSW%.

But he is quite literally the best the Dodgers have right now. Tyler Glasnow is still expected to return from the IL in 10 days, but that's still 10 days LA is without their ace. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is making good progress, but hasn't even ventured into a rehab assignment yet. The rookies — Justin Wrobleski (who was sent back down last week anyway) and Landon Knack — have a very short leash.

The Dodgers can't really afford to give Buehler as much runway as he's getting, but they also have no other choice. If what we saw was Buehler getting better, then we may never see him get back to 2021 form.