CINCINNATI — Taijuan Walker finished with a flourish.
Making his third start for the Phillies, following back-to-back duds in which he didn’t survive the fifth inning, Walker stood on the mound in the sixth Friday night, his pitch count nearing 100, and uncorked an up-and-away splitter.
Strikeout. Inning over.
OK, so it wasn’t the best start of Walker’s life. But in allowing just one run in six innings of an 8-3 victory over the Reds, he might have authored the best outing yet from the Phillies’ veteran starters (Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Walker).
It certainly was much better than anything Walker did in his first two starts. He threw more strikes, got some contact early in the count, and worked at a quick pace. It also marked only the third time in 14 games that a Phillies starter completed six innings.
The Phillies made things easier for Walker by staking him to an early 2-0 lead before tacking on three runs in the third inning on Nick Castellanos’ double, Brandon Marsh’s triple, and a sacrifice fly by J.T. Realmuto.
And Marsh helped with his defense, too. With a runner on second base and the Phillies leading 2-0 in the second inning, Marsh made a sliding catch in center field to rob Spencer Steer of a potential game-tying hit.
Consider it a makeup play for Marsh, who overran a ball in the first inning of Walker’s Phillies debut on April 3 at Yankee Stadium. It turned into a 33-pitch inning and caused him to make an earlier-than-expected exit from the game.
Walker’s spring training was interrupted when he left camp to play for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. He was three outs from starting in the championship game, too, but eventual champion Japan stormed back in the ninth inning to vanquish Mexico and advance.
So, rather than facing Team USA for all the WBC marbles, Walker started a lazy Grapefruit League game against the Tampa Bay Rays two days later. He made only three spring-training starts, plus one in the WBC, and his velocity was down in the finale. The Phillies were unconcerned.
But manager Rob Thomson suggested this week that Walker’s lack of command in his first two starts was partially because of his stop-and-start spring.
“Without making any excuses for him, I think so,” Thomson said. “It seems like there’s a part of the game where he loses the strike zone, and that’s not typical of him. He’s a strike thrower. He usually goes deeper in games, and I expect that.”
Extra-base Marsh
In an attempt to shuffle the deck with the Phillies struggling to hit with runners in scoring position, Thomson moved Marsh into the No. 5 spot.
On cue, Marsh delivered an RBI triple in a three-run third inning.
Despite playing primarily against right-handed pitching, Marsh has hit the ball hard against everybody. Nine of his 13 hits have gone for extra bases (four doubles, three triples, two homers). He was tied with the Dodgers’ James Outman for the league lead in triples.
Marsh’s latest triple followed Castellanos’ RBI double. Castellanos has nine doubles, second-most by a Phillies player through 14 games. Mike Schmidt had 11 doubles at the same point in 1976.
Lucky 14 for Stott
Unlike Thursday night, Bryson Stott didn’t wait for the ninth inning. He didn’t bunt for a hit, either. With a two-out double that split the gap in left-center field in the fourth inning, he extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
Stott’s streak is the longest to begin a season for a Phillies player since Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones hit in 16 straight to open 1950 for the Whiz Kids.
Sluggin’ Sosa
Never mind that the Phillies faced a right-handed starting pitcher. Thomson stuck with Edmundo Sosa at third base (and Alec Bohm at first), and Sosa delivered a two-out solo homer in the second inning against Connor Overton.
Thomson hardly needs to be convinced to find playing time for Sosa. But it’s notable that Sosa has hit safely in all but one of his seven starts, including a two-hit game in the series opener Thursday night.
