Taijuan Walker Strikes Out Eight Phillies in Solid Second Start

The one bright spot for the New York Mets so far this season has been their starting pitching, as Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker seem to be a formidable trio atop the rotation. Today it was Walker’s second start of the season and he certainly impressed early on.

Walker cruised through the first inning, collecting strikeouts of both Andrew McCutchen and Rhys Hoskins, while inducing weak groundout off the bat of Bryce Harper.

The Mets spotted Walker with an early lead when Dominic Smith blasted a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.

But in the top of the second, Walker was unable to keep Philadelphia off the board, as Alec Bohm hit a leadoff double and was later brought home after a Jean Segura single and a sac fly by Andrew Knapp.

Walker racked up two more strikeouts in the second inning though, getting both Didi Gregorius and Roman Quinn to strike out swinging. The K’s continued to pile up for the right-hander in the third, as he struck out the side, getting both McCutchen and Hoskins for a second time.

With no more run support coming from the Mets anemic offense, Walker began to encounter some trouble in the fourth inning. After fielding a soft grounder off the bat of Harper himself to record the first out, Walker walked Bohm and then gave up a base-hit to Gregorius after falling behind in the count 3-1.

Facing Jean Segura, who has been a Mets killer over the last few years, Walker desperately needed a groundball to get out of the jam and hold onto the one-run lead. He ended up getting exactly that, as Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor turned a beautiful double play to end the inning.

A bit of trouble for Taijuan Walker in the fourth, but he uses that good sinker to induce an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. Nice quick turn by Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor.

Mets 2, Phillies 1, mid-four. pic.twitter.com/KoHdlbvC9j

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 13, 2021

Whether it was due to a tired arm, or Joe West’s brutal strike zone, Walker’s control began to elude him in the fifth inning. After striking out Knapp, Walker issued free passes to both Quinn and pinch hitter Brad Miller, before being removed from the game in favor of Miguel Castro.

All told, Walker went 4 1/3, with eight strikeouts, three walks, three hits and one run allowed. Those eight strikeouts were the most he has thrown in a start since returning from Tommy John surgery in 2019.

Similar to his first start, Walker’s velocity remains up in the mid-to-high 90s, with his fastest pitch coming in at 96.9 mph and his average fastball velocity being 94.9 mph. The 28-year-old’s split-change was especially effective in this start, as he used the pitch at the bottom of the zone to get strikes early in the count.

The Phillies took seven swings against the split-change and either swung through or fouled off five of those pitches. Across all of his 80 pitches, Walker generated an excellent 40% whiff percentage in this start.

Through his first two outings, Walker has pitched to a 2.61 ERA, with 12 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings pitched. His next start will either come on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies, or on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs, depending on how the Mets line up their rotation with both Stroman and Walker pitching today.

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