Taijuan Walker’s turnaround has been just what the Phillies’ bullpen needs

After Ranger Suárez gave the Phillies six innings of four-hit, one-run ball on Tuesday against the Braves, manager Rob Thomson turned to Jeff Hoffman to keep the game tied. Hoffman has pitched well for the Phillies this year, but he had not been used in many — if any — high-leverage situations.

It did not go well. Hoffman allowed two runs to the Braves in his 1⅓ innings, and was charged with the loss in Atlanta’s 4-2 victory.

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Thomson explained after the game that some of his relievers — specifically, Yunior Marté, Jose Alvarado and Matt Strahm — were unavailable. This was the cumulative impact of Cristopher Sánchez having to exit his outing early on Saturday in Oakland. Sanchez was only able to pitch four innings because he was hit on his pitching hand by a ball that came back at 102.6 mph in the fourth. He is expected to make his scheduled start Friday against the visiting Mets.

Thomson said Sanchez was pitching so well Saturday that he would have let him go to 100 pitches. Instead, because of some bad luck, he got to only 61. Thomson had to go with a makeshift bullpen game. He used seven relievers because the Phillies’ 3-2 win went 12 innings.

Of course, this isn’t Sanchez’s fault, but it does speak to how important it is for Thomson’s starters to give the Phillies length, and how things can spiral when they don’t. It’s even more important given the Phillies’ reliance on bullpen games instead of a fifth starter. But luckily for Thomson, they are starting to do that.

Suárez has given the Phillies at least six innings in every start since May 30. Taijuan Walker, who was inconsistent in his first few starts, has been remarkably steady over his last three. He’s allowed only one earned run over his last 20 innings. He pitched seven innings on June 6, and eight on Friday.

“He changed a couple of things,” Thomson said. “Especially in between starts, he’s moving around, he’s getting some rhythm in his body, he’s getting moving, he’s staying loose, and now his velocity has jumped. And obviously his split is better, his cutter is better, everything has just sort of come up.”

Walker entered this season with the goal of reaching a career-high 180 innings. Right now, he’s at 77⅓ going into his start against the Braves on Thursday. It’s hard to say if he’ll reach that 180 figure, but it seems like he’s better equipped than ever to do that.

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As Thomson mentioned, Walker has gotten loose before getting on the mound by doing some fielding and running work before throwing a between-starts bullpen session. That physical adjustment has led to improved command and higher velocity. Walker’s pitches ticked up, some as much as 1.5 mph, in his start in Oakland.

The end result is that Walker is able to pitch deeper into games, which is just what the Phillies need. “It’s huge, it really is,” Thomson said.