The Philadelphia Phillies have the NL’s best record, but Sunday evening’s extra-inning loss to the St. Louis Cardinals offered a glimpse into where the team may have deficiencies — starter No. 5, keeping hamstrings healthy and finding a way to plate the ghost runner in extra innings.
On the night, Taijuan Walker gave up five hits, four earned runs, walked three and allowed two home runs. He did strike out five, and lasted five innings. But the 31-year-old allowed six balls hit at 100 mph or harder, and saw his ERA on the season spike to 5.73.
A night after Spencer Turnbull pitched three hitless innings in relief of Ranger Suárez — who departed after just two innings with a left hand contusion — there were scattered “We want Turnbull!” chants in the crowd of more than 41,000 fans at Citizens Bank Park. While the Phillies avoided disaster with Suárez, they don’t yet know if he’ll make his next scheduled start in London next Saturday. If he doesn’t, Turnbull will replace him in the rotation for as long as is needed.
But even if Walker is only in the second season of a four-year/$72 million deal, you have to wonder how many more outings he has like Sunday before the Phillies consider pulling the plug, whatever that would look like. It’s one thing to have a 4.73 ERA. It’s another to be at 5.73, and to continuously put the Phillies in a hole in his starts.
Perhaps even more noteworthy is that left fielder Brandon Marsh left the game in the bottom of the eighth inning after coming up lame running around second base. He departed the game with what the Phillies called a right hamstring strain, with further evaluation set to take place. We’ll have more on that postgame.
Ultimately, the Cardinals were able to push a run across in extra innings, while the Phillies stranded the ghost runner in the form of Bryce Harper at third base. The Phillies are now 4-6 in extra innings this season.
Highlights
- Nolan Gorman started the scoring in the top of the first inning, with a two-run home run off of Walker that snuck just inside the right-field foul pole:
- After a Masyn Winn error negated what should have been a double play grounded into by Nick Castellanos in the bottom of the second inning, Garrett Stubbs doubled into right-center field, scoring Brandon Marsh:
- Johan Rojas then brought Castellanos home with an RBI groundout, temporarily tying the game.
- The 2-2 tie was short-lived, however, as Alec Burleson clubbed a two-run shot off of the facing of the second deck in right field to allow the Cardinals to retake the lead:
- Stubbs and Rojas each reached on bunts to open the bottom of the fifth, with Lance Lynn and Iván Herrera both making errors that allowed them to reach base. Kyle Schwarber followed with a single to load the bases, before Bryson Stott unloaded them with a game-tying, two-run single into left field:
- José Alvarado made the play of his life on in relief in the top of the ninth inning.
- Gorman came through with two outs in the top of the 10th inning, singling into right field off of Gregory Soto to score the ghost runner.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Monday, June 3 vs. Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park
- 6:40 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB Network (out of market only)
- Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
- Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680
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Barbara Jean
June 3, 2024 at 4:48 am
No matter what you feel about Taijuan Walker, it is time to change the rotation….I saw that he was pitching last night on National TV and knew we already lost the game.
berksbaseball
June 3, 2024 at 8:25 am
Time for the Phillies to learn about sunk costs. Sure you have a ton of money invested in both Walker and Merifield but if they are not producing it’s time to move on. You have better options for both of them at both the Major league and Minor league levels. The money is gone no need to hang onto players that aren’t helping
John Baranich
June 3, 2024 at 12:28 pm
I totally agree. They need to cut Walker, just like they did with Odubel. Good riddance.
Where is the Merrifield who won a batting title a few years back????
Give Scott Kingery another shot. He just had his 3rd multi homer game last night.
Dombrowski needs to realize he misjudged that signing
Kepler screwed Kingery up big time.
Frank
June 3, 2024 at 9:16 am
Agree: he has been terrible and almost guarantees that the Phillies will have along road to climb to win when he starts. He has to be taken out of the rotation and relegated to a long arm in the bullpen. Turnbull certainly deserves a shot.