Although spirits weren’t particularly high when the Los Angeles Dodgers left Wrigley Field in Chicago on Sunday evening, the team could be in for a major energy boost when 29-year-old righty Walker Buehler returns to the mound sometime soon.

Buehler completed his second rehab outing for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday, throwing nearly five innings of shutout ball. In his 4-2/3 innings of work, he faced 16 Albuquerque batters on 65 pitches and allowed just two hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. His heater sat around 94 MPH most of the night and touched as high as 96 MPH.

Buehler pitched 3-1/3 innings in his first rehab start on March 31 against Tacoma, allowing three earned runs on three hits and two walks while striking out two batters.

Skipper Dave Roberts said on Sunday that he got a good report about Buehler and could decide about his return after he logs at least one more start for Oklahoma City or Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.

While nobody in management has stated that the team would use a six-man rotation as a regular option, we have already seen one bullpen game when righty Ryan Brasier opened up against the Giants last Tuesday. Before the matchup, Roberts told reporters that he would try to give his starters as much rest as possible, seemingly catering to the schedule that Yoshinobu Yamamoto was accustomed to back in Japan.

Young righty Gavin Stone has had mixed results as the team’s fifth starter. The 25-year-old Arkansas native notched his first win of the year against the Cardinals in his 2024 debut, but he struggled in his most recent outing against the Cubs on Sunday.

Of course, a few defensive errors made Stone’s stat line appear much worse, but he did end up surrendering four hits and three walks in three innings before the rain arrived in Chicago.

Should the Dodgers decide to stick with a five-man rotation, Buehler could take Stone’s spot unless an unexpected injury surfaces with someone else before that time. With Stone out of the picture, the current rotation features right-handers Tyler Glasnow, Yamamoto, Bobby Miller and veteran southpaw James Paxton.

Buehler hasn’t thrown a pitch in a regular MLB game since June of 2022. Although it looked like he was on track to make a return late last year, the Dodgers eventually shut him down, suggesting that he had not recovered as well as they hoped.

Heading into the 2024 season, Los Angeles managers and coaches said they would take it slowly with Buehler, citing the team would much rather have him at full steam come October than April.

Up next for the Dodgers is a three-game set against the twins in Minnesota starting Monday. Lining up to start for the Dodgers are Paxton, Glasnow and Miller, respectively.