SAN FRANCISCO — Walker Buehler’s search for answers has only raised another question.

Buehler’s slump continued Friday night as he allowed three runs in the first four innings of a 7-2 Dodgers loss to the San Francisco Giants. More ominous, he left after those four innings with right elbow discomfort.

Buehler is expected to have his elbow examined Saturday morning.

“I’ve had stuff for years and years in the elbow. Pretty consistent in the same spot for the last couple innings,” he said after the game. “It is what it is. Get it looked at. See what we’re dealing with before we freak out, I guess.”

Buehler had Tommy John surgery shortly after the Dodgers made him their first-round pick in the 2015 draft. Since making the Dodgers’ rotation in 2018, however, he has been a workhorse, averaging over 175 innings in his three full seasons before this year including a career-high 207 2/3 last season.

“I don’t know. I mean, I’ve had a Tommy John surgery so I think it’s a little bit heightened,” Buehler said when asked how concerned he was. “But it is what it is. That happens in this game. A lot of guys in this clubhouse have dealt with stuff with their elbows. It’s part of this game. Whatever it is, we’ll handle it. I have all the faith in our medical staff and whatnot.

“But before we kind of dive into that, we need to know what we’re dealing with.”

Buehler said he threw a breaking ball during the third inning — an inning that saw him strike out the side, part of a string of five consecutive strikeouts — and “it kind of grabbed a little bit and kind of didn’t go away.”

“I tried to pitch through it, see if it would pop away,” he said. “Sometimes that will happen. It didn’t happen for me tonight.”

Coupled with his 2⅓-inning start against the New York Mets last weekend, it is only the second time in Buehler’s career he has failed to complete five innings in consecutive starts – he went 2⅔ and four innings in his final two starts of the 2020 season, tapering down for the postseason.

Over his past six starts, Buehler has allowed 22 runs in 28⅓ innings and opposing hitters are batting .311 (37 for 119) with six home runs.

“I’m trying not to get too out ahead of myself,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But anytime when you’re talking about the elbow, you’re talking about a guy like Walker who can’t finish his start because of discomfort, it’s certainly concerning.”

While Roberts acknowledged that “it wouldn’t surprise me that that’s some reason for the inconsistencies this year,” Buehler responded to a question about whether a persistent elbow issue might be playing into his recent struggles with a one-word answer — “Nope.”

In fact, he felt he was still throwing well before coming out of Friday’s game.

“I think the velocity was fine. I was spinning the ball fine,” he said. “I left a slider over the plate to (Darin) Ruf, wish I wouldn’t have. I wish none of the pitches would have hurt before it or after it or whatever. So I’m not a person that’s going to blame that. I didn’t throw the ball great. I felt a lot better than I have previously and was kind of encouraged with the way the ball was coming out of my hand, even though I gave up a couple runs there in the second.

“But I think before we dive into it at all, I’d like to know what I’m actually doing with my elbow and my career.”

Buehler left with the Dodgers trailing just 3-1. But the Dodgers have other problems. A bullpen that was so reliable earlier in the season has started to show the strain of constant work.

Justin Bruihl replaced Buehler, the Dodgers having cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the fifth. He turned that into a 6-2 Giants lead. It was Bruihl’s fielding as much as his pitching that was his downfall.

With one out and a runner on first, Bruihl slipped fielding Austin Slater’s dribbler in front of the mound, tried to throw from his seat and fired the ball down the right-field line. After striking out Mike Yastrzemski, the Dodgers intentionally walked the right-handed Wilmer Flores so Bruihl could face the left-handed Joc Pederson – a move that required no La Russian leap of logic.

Related Articles

‘Frenemy’ Pederson singled through the right side, driving in two runs. Ruf followed with another two-out hit to drive in the third run of the inning.

Ruf went deep off David Price in the eighth for his second home run of the game. Over their past 15 games, the Dodgers’ bullpen has an ERA of 4.88 with a 1.42 WHIP. Relievers have been charged with at least one run in 12 of those 15 games, multiple runs eight times.

The Dodgers’ offense, meanwhile, started out hot. Four of the first eight batters had hits and Chris Taylor drove in their first run with a double.

But they went 2 for 25 after that without a hit after the sixth inning. Gavin Lux led off the fifth with a solo home run. It was Lux’s first home run since April 13 (five games into the season). He had 146 at-bats in between homers.