Phillies strike out 13 times and Taijuan Walker has ‘one bad inning’ in a 4-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes fanned 10 Phillies. Then Nick Castellanos, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm struck out in succession to end the game.

Phillies designated hitter Bryce Harper walks to the dugout after striking out against Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe during the ninth inning Thursday.Read moreJose F. Moreno/ Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published July 20, 2023, 3:23 p.m. ET

The Milwaukee Brewers nearly managed two historic feats against the Phillies in their 4-0 victory Thursday at Citizens Bank Park. Starter Corbin Burnes did not allow a hit through his first 3⅓ innings and Christian Yelich finished his day a triple short of the cycle. It wasn’t what you want to see in general, let alone from a team in playoff contention.

The Phillies’ lineup gave starter Taijuan Walker little room for error. They managed just two hits, two walks, no runs, and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. They struck out 13 times. Of the 16 times they made contact, only five balls were hit 95 mph or harder. For context, the Brewers made hard contact nine times.

Burnes pitched through the eighth inning, allowing two hits and striking out 10. Of the 100 pitches he threw, 55 were cutters. Despite having a good idea of what was coming, the Phillies were still stumped. It was their seventh shutout of the season, and their first since June 10.

“He was really good,” manager Rob Thomson said of Burnes. “There’s a reason why he’s an All-Star. You’ve just got to give him credit. Curveball was good. Cutter was good. Threw strikes. He was really good.”

Added Trea Turner: “He’s got a lot of plus pitches and he can really command them. Gets ahead of guys. When he gets two strikes, it’s tough, because he can take advantage and be aggressive and you’re kind of on your heels. We ran into a good staff. He was good today.”

To make matters worse, Walker made a costly mistake in the third inning. After pitching back-to-back scoreless innings to start, he allowed a double, a walk, and hung a splitter that resulted in Yelich’s three-run home run. Walker settled in after that, tossing a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, a one-hit inning in the fifth, and a one-walk inning in the sixth. He allowed a leadoff single in the seventh that eventually scored after Andrew Vasquez came in to relieve Walker.

“That’s what it was, just one bad inning,” Walker said of his outing. “I kind of just had to let them bunt it and make a play [just before the homer] and then I left a splitter up.”

Although Walker didn’t get the results he wanted, his stuff was much better than it was in his outing against the Padres on July 15. He averaged 91.4 mph on his four-seam fastball in that game. He averaged 94 mph on it Thursday.

“It was definitely better than the last start,” Walker said. “I felt better out there. It was just the one bad inning. It kind of cost us.”

In all, Walker allowed six hits, four runs, all of which were earned, and two walks with six strikeouts over six-plus innings. The bullpen — Vasquez and Dylan Covey — allowed just one walk and two hits over the next three innings, but with the way the Phillies were hitting, those didn’t matter much.

It seemed like the Phillies might be able to get something going in the ninth after Turner drew a leadoff walk. But Brewers reliever Abner Uribe struck out their next three batters — Nick Castellanos, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm — to get the series win for the Brewers. The Phillies head to Cleveland with a record of 52-44.