Walker's outing and a clicking offense leads to solid all-around win versus Reds

By Phil Sheridan

The Phillies did not have the chance to right their listing ship and get back to the business of defending their National League pennant. Not in one game, against a mediocre Cincinnati Reds team.

All the Phillies could hope for Friday night was what the Phillies got Friday night.

They ended their 3-game losing streak with a solid all-around performance and an 8-3 victory at Great American Ball Park. The Phillies finally saw what they expected from $72-million free-agent pitcher Taijuan Walker. Their uneven lineup provided balanced offense: all nine batters finished with at least one hit.

Oh, and with Walker pitching as hoped, the bullpen wasn’t overtaxed. Seranthony Dominguez pitched the 7th, Jose Alvarado dominated in the 8th, and Connor Brogdon finished up while allowing 1 unearned run.

“That was a good feeling,” manager Rob Thomson said of using Dominguez and Alvarado according to his original plan. He hasn’t had that luxury in most of the first 13 games.

Give Walker credit for that. After going 0-1 with a 6.00 earned run average in his first two starts as a Phillies, Walker had not pitched beyond the fourth inning. Indeed, his second rough start was earlier this week against these Reds, and their Friday night starter Connor Overton.

The Reds won that game, 6-4.

This time out, Kyle Schwarber drove in Trea Turner with a 1-out, first inning double. The Phillies never trailed, giving Walker a comfort level he didn’t have in his first 2 starts. Edmundo Sosa hit a solo home run in the second inning, and the Phillies broke out in the third with 3 runs. Back-to-back extra-base hits by Nick Castellanos (RBI double) and Brandon Marsh (RBI triple) helped chase Overton after 3 innings.

“That makes my job easier,” Walker said. “Let the defense work for me.”

And it did. Marsh made a sliding catch in center field in the second inning. Bryson Stott dove to his left to take a base hit from Spencer Steer in the fourth. It was good, professional defense, and it allowed Walker to concentrate on the guys in the batter’s box.

It wasn’t easy. Home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso wasn’t giving anyone strikes low in the zone. That particularly affected Walker, whose approach called for him to get ahead by hitting the edges of the strike zone.

“I got behind early in a lot of counts,” Walker said. “My goal was not to walk anybody, and I think I walked 2. But I wanted to attack, attack, attack.”

He did, finding a rhythm despite the strike zone, and retiring the leadoff hitter in 5 of 6 innings. Walker allowed just 1 run in 6 full innings, struck out 4 and threw 98 pitches. He evened his record at 1-1 and gave himself something to build on in his next start.

“He was really, really competing,” Thomson said. “Tai was getting early outs. We talk about getting early outs, on the first 3 pitches of an at-bat. That’s how you keep your pitch count down.”

Thomson worked some magic of his own. He shook up his lineup in a distinctive way. Bryson Stott continued to lead off with Turner batting second and Schwarber third. Things got interesting in the bottom half of the order.

Thomson alternated .300 hitters with guys who were struggling by comparison. Marsh and his .361 average hit fifth, followed by J.T. Realmuto (.229), then .327-hitting Alex Bohm, Jake Cave (.172 average) and  Sosa with his .300 average.

The result: The low-average guys, mixed in among the high-average guys, all got hits. Realmuto went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the Phillies’ 3-run ninth inning. Cave had a hit. Schwarber (.222) had 2 hits and drew a walk.

Meanwhile, all of the .300-plus hitters had at least one hit, as well. Turner and Castellanos had 2 each.

Yes, the Phillies looked like the team that got red-hot through October and into November last year. No, that’s no guarantee that they are past their rough start.

Remember, the Phillies exploded to beat Miami 15-3 Monday then imploded to lose their next 3 games. They are a work in progress, but at least Friday’s win represented real progress.

The Phillies are 5-9 as they play their 15th game Saturday. Over the past 23 seasons, going back to the turn of the century, the Phillies have hit that milestone with a 6-9 record 8 times, including last year, when they went to the World Series.

This is familiar territory. To get to better territory, the Phillies need big performances from Walker, Turner, Schwarber and Castellanos, their big-money free agents of the last two years. Friday night, all four delivered, and the Phillies went 1-0.