It wasn’t always pretty, but Bueheler bulldogged his way to a tough-fought quality start here. He needed a big bounceback performance after being lit up by the Yankees last time out and delivered. His cutter got him out of a few jams and was his ace in the hole to force weak contact or nab a strike when he was falling behind in the count. It’s funny to think about the pitcher he once was pumping upper-90s fastballs at the top of the zone to the guy he is now working the edges with sinkers and cutters to get outs by any means necessary. He’s scheduled to face the Mariners next time out.

Too bad the Bombers couldn’t do that seven months ago. Buehler might not have deserved it anyway, but he didn’t have much luck tonight. Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s three-run homer came on a curve well below the knees and hit the top of the wall before bouncing over. Anthony Volpe’s three-run homer was a 369-footer that would have left three ballparks. Buehler dropped to 4-4 with a 5.18 ERA ahead of a start at home next week against Tampa Bay.

Buehler had good velocity and struck out six today, but he gave up 10 hits and 11 hard-hit balls, two of them homers. The loss leaves him 4-3 with a 4.44 ERA. He’s a mediocre mixed-league play most weeks and a bad one with his next start coming at Yankee Stadium.

Buehler wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t particularly good either. He didn’t allow much hard contact apart from a solo home run to Dylan Carlson, but he also recorded just a 15 percent whiff rate and 22 percent CSW. He struggled to find the zone with his four-seam fastball and sweeper, which led to few swinging strikes on the day. It’ll be tough to start him against the Braves next week.