Walker Buehler Beat His Old Team. Then He Said Exactly What Everyone Felt.

Walker Buehler walked off the mound at Petco Park on Tuesday night and didn’t bother hiding it. He wanted this one. Badly.

The San Diego Padres right-hander, who spent seven seasons across town with the Dodgers and won a World Series there, beat Los Angeles for the first time in a Padres uniform. The final score was 7-1. It felt like more than that.

When MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell asked Buehler about facing his former team, he didn’t play nice.

“Yeah, I want to kick everyone’s butt,” Buehler said. “I want to beat everyone.”

Then he paused. He knew beating the Dodgers meant something extra. Buehler was a two-time All-Star in Los Angeles. He won a ring. He became a household name in that blue uniform. But there was never any guarantee he’d get a moment like this, not against a lineup that saw him as a teammate for years.

“I certainly don’t want to lose to them,” Buehler added. “So, yeah. Doc is not wrong.”

Doc, by the way, is Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Roberts had said earlier that Buehler would be extra motivated against his old club. He was right.

Buehler backed it up on the mound

This wasn’t just talk. Buehler went 5 1/3 innings, gave up one run on three hits, and struck out five. Mookie Betts took him deep in the second inning, a solo shot that briefly gave the Dodgers life. After that, Buehler locked in. He retired the next nine batters he faced before leaving with the lead.

The irony here is hard to miss. Buehler used to own the Padres from the other side. In 12 starts against San Diego while with the Dodgers, he went 6-1 with a 1.80 ERA. That was then. Now he’s wearing brown and gold and giving Petco Park something to scream about.

His June has been quietly dominant. Buehler has a 1.71 ERA across five starts this month. That’s not a flukey stretch. That’s a guy finding his rhythm at exactly the right time for a team that thinks it can win the NL West.

What this means for the rivalry

The Padres and Dodgers have two more games left in this series, so there’s plenty of time for Los Angeles to respond. But for one night, the energy belonged to San Diego. The crowd was loud. The dugout was fired up. And Buehler got exactly what he came for.

He never said it was personal. He didn’t have to. The way he pitched and the way he talked afterward made that clear enough.