LOS ANGELES — Walker Buehler has been champing at the bit for so long — it has been more than 22 months since the 29-year-old right-hander last pitched for the Dodgers — that his teeth are beginning to hurt.

"Yeah," Buehler said on Sunday, before the Dodgers wrapped up a nine-game homestand with a 10-0 victory over the New York Mets, "I'm pretty ready to roll."

Buehler hopes to check the final box in his return from a second Tommy John surgery when he makes his fifth minor league rehabilitation start, this one for Triple-A Oklahoma City, at Albuquerque on Wednesday night.

But he acknowledged that, in light of his uneven performance in his first four games, he might need two more starts before returning to a rotation that, with the exception of ace Tyler Glasnow, has been plagued by inconsistency and injury and entered Tuesday night's game at Washington with a 3.91 ERA, the 14th-best mark in baseball.

Buehler began his rehab stint for Oklahoma City with a March 31 start at Tacoma, where he gave up three earned runs and three hits, struck out two and walked two in a 54-pitch effort.

He pushed his pitch count to 65 in his next start for Oklahoma City on April 6, blanking Albuquerque on two hits, striking out six and walking none over 4 2/3 innings.

But Buehler suffered a setback with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on April 12 when he was struck in the right middle finger by a comebacker and had to come out of the game after throwing only 27 pitches in two innings, well short of his 80-pitch target.

His next and most recent start, for Oklahoma City last Thursday night, was a bit of a slog. The first four Sacramento batters he faced reached base in a two-run first inning. Buehler completed just 2 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs and four hits, striking out three and walking four.

Buehler threw just 68 pitches, well short of his target of 80-85 pitches, and half of them were balls.

"Not great," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said last week, when asked how Buehler has looked during his rehab stint. "Not great."

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