Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Walker struggles, Phillies drop opener as Harper’s return looms

Taijuan Walker was shelled by the Dodgers on Monday. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Dodgers 13, Phillies 4

LOS ANGELES — Perhaps the Los Angeles Dodgers heard the news of Bryce Harper’s imminent return to action, concluded Monday was a must-win of sorts with him still sidelined and subsequently dialed it up a notch for the series opener.

Or perhaps Taijuan Walker is just in a bit of a rut.

The Dodgers played like a team with a sense of urgency on Monday, walloping three home runs in the first three innings against Walker and forcing the Phillies’ righty out of the game before the conclusion of the fourth. It put Los Angeles well on its way to a comfortable nine-run victory.

Will Smith got the home run party started with a solo shot on a Walker hanger in the first inning.

David Peralta made Walker pay for walking the first two batters of the second inning with a big fly of his own:

And Jayson Heyward followed up quite a display in batting practice with a 413-foot tater in the third:

Kyle Schwarber, who hit a couple long homers on the West Coast last season — including one in Dodger Stadium in May — went yard in a bit of a different variety this time around. A 343-foot wall scraper got the Phillies on the board.

Four straight singles knocked Walker out in the fourth, a shame for the Phillies given a two-run Nick Castellanos single the following inning that would’ve otherwise made it a two-run game — but instead only made it 8-3. (Walker’s ERA stands at 6.91.)

Alec Bohm singled home a run after J.T. Realmuto led off the sixth with a triple, but it was sandwiched around a pair of Mookie Betts RBI extra-base hits — an RBI double and a two-run homer, the latter of which gave the Dodgers an all-but-definitive seven-run advantage in the seventh (which eventually became nine).

Perhaps a Bryce Harper-led lineup could’ve made it interesting. Probably not, though, honestly, and the Phillies didn’t do anything of the sort. They dropped the lackluster opener (not before Kody Clemens pitched to a pitcher), falling to .500 on the season.

Great. Bryce Harper is back tomorrow.

Shibe Vintage Sports Notes

Trea Turner got a warm welcome from the Dodger Stadium crowd before first pitch. Turner spent 1 1/2 seasons in L.A. before signing his mega-deal with the Phillies in December.

Turner’s was the more noteworthy homecoming, but Craig Kimbrel had one as well, and it didn’t go very swimmingly. He allowed a walk, the Betts homer and a Freddie Freeman double before being pulled after 2/3 of an inning.