NEW YORK — It had been 1,109 days since Walker Buehler looked this good.
In Game 3 of the NLCS on Wednesday, the Dodgers’ starter conjured 18 swing-and-misses from Mets hitters in just four innings of work, his highest raw total in a single outing since his final start of 2021. More importantly, neither he nor the Los Angeles bullpen surrendered a run. The Dodgers, buoyed by a trio of home runs, including a supersonic blast from Shohei Ohtani, won in a rout, 8-0.
For Buehler, it was a sparkling return to form on a chilly evening in the Big Apple.
Once the impenetrable ace of a perennial contender, Buehler is a different pitcher now. Arm injuries robbed him of the better part of three seasons and chipped away at his once unshakable confidence. He endured a stop-start 2024 during which he spent a month away from the team to rehabilitate a bad hip at a private training facility.
Buehler steadied …