Taijuan Walker turns in quality start as the Phillies snap their skid, beat the Cincinnati Reds

CINCINNATI — Taijuan Walker was disappointed, and, really, who could blame him?

Walker was three outs from being named the starting pitcher for Team Mexico in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic last month. Three outs from pitching in an environment that he accurately described as “Game 7 of the World Series.”

Three outs that never happened.

Mexico got walked off by Japan, so rather than facing Team USA the next night for all the WBC marbles, Walker rejoined the Phillies and finished out spring training.

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“The atmosphere was definitely different coming back,” Walker said, thinking back. “It was kind of just finding my groove again.”

Walker’s groove finally showed up Friday night. Two starts late but better than never, he threw more strikes, got more contact early in the count, worked at a quick pace, and completed six innings in an 8-3 victory over the Reds before 17,610 at Great American Ball Park.

“Still a couple things to work on,” Walker said. “I felt like I got behind a lot early in counts. Pitch count could’ve been a little bit lower. But, yeah, definitely a lot better. The biggest thing was just getting through the six innings.”

OK, so it wasn’t the best start of Walker’s life. But in allowing just one run, he might have authored the best outing yet from the Phillies’ trio of veteran starters. 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, he made a sliding catch in center field to rob Spencer Steer of a potential game-tying hit.

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But Walker was much sharper. After walking five batters in his last start, also against the Reds, he exhibited much better command. Consider his final batter of the game. With one on and two out, and his pitch count nearing 100, he evened the count with two backdoor cutters, then uncorked an up-and-away splitter to strike out Jason Vosler.

“I knew if I painted those two [cutters] that he might chase that splitter away off the plate,” Walker said. “It was exactly where I wanted it.”

It’s surely a building block for Walker, the $72 million addition to the Phillies’ starting rotation.

“He threw the ball well,” manager Rob Thomson said. “His split was really working. [Jose] Barrero got the infield single [in the third inning], and it looked like he turned it up and the velocity went up and the split got better. He was really competing.”

It wasn’t Thomson’s imagination.

“That next pitch was kind of an angry fastball, yeah,” Walker said, laughing. “But after that, the velo got better. It kind of just carried the rest of the way. Felt like I was being a little more aggressive. The goal was not to walk anyone. Walked two. It’s better than five, but the goal was to attack, attack, attack.”

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Maybe now, after a case of WBC envy, maybe Walker’s season can begin.

“I think after today I definitely got my groove back, got my velo back consistently throughout the whole game,” Walker said. “Everything just started to click now ... finally.”

After saving a run in the second inning, Marsh drove one in with a triple in the third.

Which play was more satisfying?

“The win,” Marsh said.

Fair enough, considering the Phillies snapped a three-game skid.

But Marsh, despite playing primarily against right-handed pitching, is also hitting the ball as hard as anyone in the Phillies’ lineup. 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 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.

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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 talked into finding 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.

It wasn’t the only move that worked out for Thomson. He dropped J.T. Realmuto to the No. 6 hole, and the scuffling catcher notched two hits and a sacrifice fly.

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.