Taijuan Walker struggles, Phillies offense falls flat in 8-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins

Taijuan Walker entered his start on Saturday night with a 6.75 ERA in first innings. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has watched him this season. Over his last two starts, Walker’s velocity has dipped significantly. But in both of those starts, he’s made adjustments and seen his velocity slowly creep up, helping him battle through six or seven innings.

On Saturday in the Phillies’ 8-1 loss to the Twins, Walker struggled through his entire five innings. He allowed back-to-back walks in the first, an omen of things to come. He induced two groundouts — one of which drove in a run — walked another batter, and induced a lineout to end the frame.

His velocity was down again in the early innings, but this time, it stayed down for his entire outing. He averaged 91.2 mph on his fastball and 86.9 mph overall on his 94 pitches thrown. He allowed a season-high six walks. By the time the right-hander walked off the mound after the fifth inning, he’d allowed three runs on three hits — two of them home runs — with just two strikeouts.

Walker’s last three starts have been the lowest-velocity starts of his 11-year career. As a result, he’s cut down his fastball usage by more than half since April and May. Neither the Phillies nor Walker seem to have any answers as to why this is happening. Walker has said he’s dealt with low velocity before, but never to this extent.

After the game, he said he feels physically fine — which has made his recent starts even more frustrating.

“A month and a half ago, the velocity was really good, I was feeling really good,” Walker said. “It’s frustrating because I feel like I’m not at my best. I’m getting by, but to not be at my best at this time, when the offense is rolling, defense is playing good, I just really want to be out there helping the team.”

He was charged with the loss on Saturday. It was his first loss since July 20, and just his fifth of the season. Manager Rob Thomson said that the Phillies (65-53) plan to give Walker some extra rest before his next outing.

“A lot of walks,” Thomson said. “The control is off, the command is off, velocity is down. So I think it’s time to give him a little breather.”

The walks and the velocity dip seem to go hand-in-hand. Without his velocity, Walker said he feels more pressure to be perfect. On Saturday night, he tried to hit the corners of the strike zone, but the Twins weren’t chasing.

“The six walks are something I don’t want to do,” he said. “I kind of got lucky tonight with the six walks, only one of them scored. So I know we have a couple of off days coming up, so hopefully I can get some extra rest and hopefully the velocity picks back up.”

Walker’s outing was a stark contrast from that of Twins starter Pablo López, who entered the game with a 1.80 ERA over his last four starts. López allowed just four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts through six scoreless innings. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, when Nick Castellanos lined a single to left field to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

The Phillies began to chip away at López in the fifth and sixth innings but weren’t able to score any runs. In the fifth inning, Trea Turner hit a leadoff single, extending his hitting streak to nine games. After J.T. Realmuto struck out, Jake Cave singled to put runners on first and second, but Rodolfo Castro was due up at the plate.

It was an unfortunate draw for the Phillies. Castro had yet to record a hit since he was acquired from the Pirates at the trade deadline (but later drove in the Phillies’ only run and recorded his first hit with his new team). The infielder lined out, and Kyle Schwarber popped out to end the inning.

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They rallied again in the sixth, after Bryce Harper hit a double with one out. But Castellanos flew out and Bryson Stott grounded out to strand Harper at second.

The Twins (61-58) blew the game open in the seventh. After Matt Strahm allowed just a hit in the sixth, Carlos Correa homered off Gregory Soto, who also allowed a double, walk, and RBI single. Yunior Marte then gave up a three-run home run to Joey Gallo (Gallo’s second homer of the day), extending the Twins’ lead to 8-0.

Turner and Realmuto led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and a double to put runners on second and third, but the Phillies largely were unable to capitalize. Cave lined out, and Castro again found himself with an opportunity to drive in runs. He grounded out, driving in Turner, and Schwarber popped out to end the rally.

Walker certainly didn’t put the Phillies in a good position, but the offense managing just one run on nine hits after recording 13 runs on 15 hits the night before pretty much made it a moot point. They stranded nine and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position on Saturday.

“I just think he’s really good,” Turner said of López. “We’ve got a lot of respect for him in here. He’s got a good fastball and pitches off of that. He’s got four or five pitches that are tough. So he’s tough to score off of, and if you don’t take advantage of those few opportunities you get, it’s going to be a long night. But he was pretty good.”

If there was a bright spot, it was that Castellanos and Turner continue to hit. Castellanos went 2-for-4 on Saturday and Turner went 3-for-3 with a walk. Turner has said that when he’s at his best, he’s hitting like the 2021 version of himself. He said he’s feeling close to that.

“I feel really good, hitting-wise,” Turner said. “I really liked my last at-bat. I think something I didn’t do well last year, and definitely not this year, was the two-strike hitting. And the last at-bat with the two-strike hitting right there was nice. I think the approach is better. I’m laying off some pitches. Even when I chase or take a chance, I can hone it back in. So it feels really good. I feel kind of in control in the box. Keep it going and ride it out.”