Taijuan Walker deservedly earned an All-Star nod during a first-half renaissance, with his success largely predicated on keeping the ball in the yard.
Walker believed he was mostly effective over six innings on Sunday, but his recent trend of coughing up home runs continued with three early solo blasts costing him in a 3-0 loss to the Phillies at homer-friendly Citizens Bank Park.
“They had the three solo home runs, and two of them were opposite field in the first row, so I’m not mad about those,” Walker said after suffering his fourth straight loss to even his record at 7-7. “Obviously I wanted to get the win, but I felt like I gave [us] a chance to win today.”
While ex-Met Zack Wheeler was throttling his former team on two hits over nine shutout innings, Walker was tagged for solo shots by Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto in the first inning and Bryce Harper in the sixth to account for all of the Phillies’ runs against him.
The 28-year-old Walker had given up just six home runs with a 2.50 ERA over 16 starts entering the All-Star break last month. He now has been taken deep 10 times in his past five starts, going 0-4 with a 9.86 ERA over that span.
“Maybe just pitch selection, leaving balls over the middle of the plate,” Walker said when asked for an explanation about the home-run increase. “And it’s summer. I feel like I gave up some balls that went to the warning track in the first half. But it’s a little hotter now, so the balls are carrying a little more, maybe.”
After yielding the two solo shots in the first inning, Walker only was reached for one more hit until Harper’s opposite-field homer with two outs in the sixth.
By finishing that frame, Walker became the first Mets starter to complete six since Tylor Megill also recorded 18 outs on July 23. The quality start also marked Walker’s best statistical outing of the second half, which began for him with a first-inning knockout against the Pirates on July 18.
Still, the Mets dropped to 9-15 since the break and slipped into third place behind the Phillies and the Braves in the NL East.
“Just keep going, we have to be positive, and we are,” said Walker, whose 111 innings pitched represent his most since throwing 157 for Arizona in 2017, the year before he underwent Tommy John surgery. “We’re going through a little rough patch right now, but it happens.”
“It’s a long season. There are still plenty of ballgames left to go. I think we’re going to catch fire and it’s going to be at the right time.”