Phillies end Spencer Arrighetti’s no-hit bid in the eighth, Taijuan Walker has a poor outing in loss to Astros

When Austin Hays hit a chopper to the left side of the infield in the eighth inning on Wednesday, Citizens Bank Park erupted.

The home crowd hadn’t had much to cheer about in the Phillies’ 10-0 loss to Houston. Starter Taijuan Walker continued to struggle, and the Phillies were on their way to their worst home shutout since 2017. But Hays’ infield single had helped save a little face by breaking up Spencer Arrighetti’s no-hit bid. The Astros rookie was six outs away from history.

Walker was tagged for six runs on 13 hits. Houston hit Walker’s splitter hard, racking up three doubles and a home run off his signature pitch. In six innings, Walker did not record a single strikeout.

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“I’ve never really struggled like this, so it’s a little tough right now,” Walker said.

The Phillies have lost Walker’s last nine starts. Since he returned from the injured list on Aug. 13, Walker has a 9.17 ERA. When asked postgame about the future of the fifth spot in the Phillies’ rotation, manager Rob Thomson said the team has to “talk about it.” He declined to answer whether Walker would make another start this year.

“We have the off day on Monday, so we do have some options,” he said.

Ahead of Wednesday’s start, Walker had been focusing on getting ahead and staying ahead in counts. He showed some improvement in that area, throwing 19 first-pitch strikes out of the 28 batters faced, but the results did not follow. The Astros only whiffed on two of Walker’s 93 total pitches.

“I feel bad for him,” Thomson said. “I really do. … He works extremely hard, and he’s taken that time on the IL to try different things, to gain velocity, to gain action on his split. There’s no lack of effort there. And so when guys give effort and it doesn’t work out, you don’t see the results, it hurts. It hurts me, and obviously it hurts him, too.”

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The Astros jumped on Walker early. José Altuve doubled to lead off the game, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice, and stole home.

The wheels fell off in the fourth inning. Walker allowed six hits, including three doubles and a two-run homer, to plate five runs. He returned to the mound for the fifth and sixth innings, where he faced the minimum — though he was helped out by his fielders, who turned two double plays. Thomson said part of the reason why he sent Walker back out was to save the bullpen for the upcoming four-game set against Atlanta.

“The game plan today was try to get quick outs, put the ball in play early; they’re an aggressive team,” Walker said. “Try not to get into deep counts. I feel like the game plan we had today, I executed, and again, the results doesn’t show it … The plan we had was to get quick outs, and I feel like we did that.”

Meanwhile, Arrighetti was mowing down hitters. The Phillies put two on base in the second inning, when Arrighetti issued consecutive four-pitch walks to Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh. But after a brief mound visit, the 24-year-old retired 11 straight batters until Kyle Schwarber drew another walk in the sixth. Bryce Harper also walked to put two on, but Alec Bohm grounded out to end the momentum.

“He’s funky, he’s got some good stuff,” Trea Turner said. “ … I felt like everything was kind of hitting the edge of the box, and I maybe got one or two pitches to hit all game, and you miss those pitches, it’s tough. So he had four or five pitches working, spotting up, and he was tough.”

In the seventh inning, Marsh lifted a fly ball to left that was a few feet from ending the no-hit bid and shutout all at once, but Mauricio Dubón made a leaping catch up against the outfield wall. After Hays’ hit, Turner and Bohm also singled, but that was the extent of the offense.

Michael Mercado, who was recalled from triple A on Monday, struggled with his command. He allowed three home runs — including Yordan Álvarez’s second and third of the game — in 1⅓ relief innings. There was a scary moment when he hit Alex Bregman in the head with a pitch, but the Astros’ third baseman remained in the game after being checked out by trainers.

Utility player Weston Wilson, who was reinstated from the paternity list on Wednesday, pitched the ninth inning with the game well out of reach.