The Philadelphia Phillies welcomed Walker Buehler for his debut on Friday night, and he helped the team secure an 8-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Citizens Bank Park.

The 31-year-old right-hander, whom the Boston Red Sox released on August 29, and signed with the Phillies two days later, pitched five innings of one-run baseball, giving up five hits, walking one, hitting a batter, and striking out three .

Buehler’s first inning saw a brief scare when Bobby Witt Jr. singled, stole second, and scored on a Maikel Garcia single, giving the Royals an early 1-0 lead. After that, Buehler settled in, inducing 11 swings and misses, tied for his second-highest total in any outing this season and his highest since June 17.

He threw 90 pitches, 63.3% of which were hard pitches, i

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