Phillies fall to Cardinals, 6-5, as Taijuan Walker struggles early but pitches through seven

ST. LOUIS — Taijuan Walker’s numbers haven’t been pretty lately. He hasn’t thrown a quality start since July 31 in Miami. He pitched to a 4.76 ERA in August, which, after another rough performance against the Cardinals in the Phillies’ 6-5 loss on Sunday, has now ballooned to a 7.27 ERA in September.

But he and his manager saw reasons for optimism after his most recent start. Rob Thomson said before Sunday’s game that he wanted Walker to throw strikes, and Walker was able to do that, for the most part. He was efficient. He allowed just one walk and did not allow a hit until his third inning of work.

Command was a point of focus for him between his last start, on Sept. 11, and his start on Sunday afternoon. He had backup catcher Garrett Stubbs set up right down the middle in their bullpen sessions, so they could have his pitches work off that strike zone. On Sunday, Walker had catcher J.T. Realmuto do the same thing. It worked.

He found himself throwing more first-pitch strikes and in more 0-2 and 1-2 counts. Walker struggled in the third inning, allowing back-to-back singles and a Paul Goldschmidt two-out double to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. After that, he walked Alec Burleson and allowed an RBI double to Nolan Arenado to make that a 3-0 lead.

He encountered more adversity in the fifth inning, allowing a solo home run to Goldschmidt and an RBI single to Arenado to give the Cardinals a 5-3 advantage. But in his last two innings, the Phillies starter got into a rhythm. His stuff was sharper. Thomson said the seventh inning may have been his best. Walker induced a groundout from Lars Nootbaar and strikeouts from Goldschmidt and Burleson.

“I think being able to attack the strike zone earlier in the game gave him a better feel for his pitches,” Realmuto said of Walker. “So, those last few innings, he was doing such a good job of getting ahead that we were able to start expanding at that point. He was throwing more chase pitches where he wanted to, and was able to go for the strikeout a little bit more than we were trying to early in the game.”

Walker said that he’s been searching for his mechanics in his last few outings, but he felt like he figured something out on Sunday. He believes he pitched better than his line. Walker went seven innings, allowing eight hits and five earned runs with one walk and three strikeouts.

Luckily for the Phillies, the Cardinals’ defensive ineptitude helped them keep the game close. In the fourth inning, Bryce Harper walked and Alec Bohm singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. Bryson Stott squared up a bunt, which he popped up to second base. Bohm was caught in a rundown between first and second.

All of a sudden, while the Cardinals infielders were trying to chase down Bohm, Harper broke for home plate. Cardinals second baseman Juniel Querecuto couldn’t decide whom to throw to, and none of the Cardinals outfielders came in to cover second base during the rundown. Harper reached home safely and Bohm was safe at second.

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A few at-bats later, with the bases loaded, Nick Castellanos grounded into what seemed to be an easy double play. Instead, shortstop Tommy Edman threw it to Querecuto, who threw it to Goldschmidt at first. It was not a good throw. The ball took a high bounce and Goldschmidt wasn’t able to field it. Two more runs scored for the Phillies.

After the Cardinals took the lead in the fifth, the Phillies battled back. Bohm hit his 17th home run of the season in the eighth, a solo shot to left field. Castellanos added an RBI single to tie the score again, at 5-5. But Jordan Walker hit a two-out, solo home run off Seranthony Domínguez in the bottom of the eighth to give his team the go-ahead run.

It was the third time in Domínguez’s last five outings that he has given up a game-tying or go-ahead home run.

“It was just one bad pitch,” Thomson said of Domínguez’s outing. “He’s actually been throwing the ball better. I thought he threw the ball good today. It was just one bad pitch, and Walker took advantage of it.”

The Phillies tried to rally in the top of the ninth, but to no avail. Bohm drew a one-out walk and Stott hit a single to put runners on first and second for Realmuto, who struck out. Johan Rojas flied out to end the game.

The Phillies are 81-68 and have a three-game lead over the Cubs in first place in the National League wild-card standings. The Cubs play the Diamondbacks on Sunday night.

“I thought it was good,” Thomson said of the Cardinals series, as the Phillies took two of three. “I thought for the most part, we played pretty well. Today we came back, we got some fortunate breaks there in the fourth, but at least we answered. They got up three, we answered, they took the lead, we answered. We just keep coming and that’s good.”

Realmuto went 0-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch on Sunday, and has gone hitless in his last two games. He’s hitting .143/.167/.143 over his last seven, and .248/.308/.447 on the season, with most of his offensive production coming on the road. He said he has had trouble getting into a rhythm this season.

“Just haven’t been able to find a groove for a consistent amount of time like I usually do,” Realmuto said. “Kind of been fighting things back and forth. Haven’t really gotten on a roll and hitting is a mentality and a confidence thing, just as much as anything else. And I haven’t been able to find my confidence for a consistent amount of time this year.

“I felt like even when I felt good at the plate, I had a lot of hard outs. And just haven’t been able to build off of that. It’s just the game.”