Taijuan Walker returns, Phillies’ offense shutout in loss to Marlins

Final Score: Marlins 5, Phillies 0

After a near two-month stay on the injured list, Taijuan Walker returned to the mound for the Phillies on Tuesday. The right-hander’s night wasn’t so smooth. A rough first inning featured a pair of back-to-back walks and a pair of RBI singles. Walker threw 34 pitches in the inning.

The second, third and fourth innings were a bit smoother. Walker retired three Miami batters on seven pitches in the second. In the third, he allowed a leadoff home run to Jake Burger, who entered the night with 12 home runs during the second half. After Burger’s homer, Walker didn’t allow any more runs to score, walked one more batter and was finished after the fourth.

Altogether, Walker tossed 76 pitches, 44 of which landed for strikes. Across his four innings, he allowed four hits, three runs, walked three hitters and struck out five. Of Walker’s 76 pitches, 22 were splitters, which was a pitch he had a problem throwing before landing on the IL because of a blister issue.

As for the Phillies’ offense, they were blanked by rookie starter Valente Bellozo. The 24-year-old right-hander, making the fifth start of his big-league career, limited Rob Thomson’s lineup to four hits over seven shutout innings. The lone threat the Phillies put together came in the fourth inning. After a Nick Castellanos ground-rule double, they had runners on second and third with two outs. But J.T. Realmuto flied out into foul territory to end the inning.

With their loss, the Phillies are now 69-50 and have lost four straight games.

Highlights

• Burger was the first batter Walker walked in the first inning and he scored on a Jonah Bride single. The second batter to walk, Jesús Sánchez, scored on an Otto Lopez single.
• Burger’s leadoff homer in the third made it 3-0 Marlins and traveled 405 feet.

• Miami added another run in the seventh. With Xavier Edwards trying to steal third base, J.T. Realmuto’s throw wasn’t handled by Alec Bohm, and the ball trickled into left field, allowing Edwards to score on the play.

• A home run by Sánchez in the top of the ninth inning made it 5-0 Marlins.

Notes

• Alec Bohm’s walk in the fourth inning extended his on-base streak to 30 games. According to the Phillies, it’s the longest such streak of Bohm’s career and is the longest for the team since Kyle Schwarber reached base safely in 31 consecutive games in 2022.
• To make room for Taijuan Walker on the 26-man roster, the Phillies optioned right-hander Yunior Marte to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday.
• Ranger Suárez threw a simulated game at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, according to Rob Thomson, who also provided updates on Austin Hays and Spencer Turnbull pre-game
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Ticket IQ Next Game

• Wednesday, August 14 vs. Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park
• 6:40 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
• Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680

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