Walker does what no Toronto SP had in 2020

Taijuan Walker went boldly where no Blue Jays starter had gone before, at least in 2020, when he crossed the 100-pitch plateau on Sunday in one of the biggest outings of the season from Toronto’s pitching staff.

It’s mostly been by design that no other starter has reached pitch No. 100 this season, given Toronto's approach to pitching, but Walker earned it and his timing couldn’t have been better. Coming off a six-game losing streak in which the Blue Jays had been outscored, 61-23, Walker set the table for a 6-3 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park that Toronto simply needed.

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The Blue Jays still have a firm hold on the final American League Wild Card spot, but there was reason for them to glance in their rear-view mirror over that losing streak as the Mariners entered Sunday just three games back. Seattle then lost to San Diego to fall four back and reduce Toronto's magic number for clinching a postseason spot to four.

A daunting series against the Yankees awaits the Blue Jays this week in Buffalo, but Sunday’s win should, at the very least, help Toronto find its footing for the home stretch.

“Walker was the key,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “He was outstanding. He gave us a chance, and we needed that because our bullpen was thin.”

Tossing six innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts, Walker’s success started where you’d expect -- with his fastball. Always in attack mode, Walker pounded the zone with that pitch, which helped him avoid falling too far behind. When the Phillies did make contact, it wasn’t often hard, and they fouled off his fastball 15 times over 50 pitches.

This approach from Walker helps set the tone for the game and keeps his fielders involved, which was apparent in a pair of his stronger outings soon after joining the Blue Jays in an August trade from the Mariners. It’s not a complicated approach, either, and it doesn’t need to be.

“I just try to make that my game plan going into every game. I just try to attack the zone,” Walker said. “I don’t try to get too cute and try to pick the corners or anything. I just really try to stay on the plate with all of my pitches and force them to put the ball in play. We had some really good defensive plays today.”

This was also a crucial outing for Walker individually, given his last couple of trips to the mound. Two starts ago, Walker was out of sync, walking five batters over just four innings. In his last start, some poor defensive play behind Walker led to seven runs -- only one of which was earned -- over 1 2/3 innings. Walker was dragged down by some factors that were out of his control, but it was still important for him to find his groove again ahead of the postseason.

“More energy, for sure,” Walker said. “I came onto the field today and my only goal was to win the game today. I wanted to go out there and set the tone, get ahead, just pound the zone and give our team the best chance to win.”

As the Blue Jays’ rotation sets up today, Walker would follow ace Hyun Jin Ryu as the likely No. 2 starter in a postseason series. Matt Shoemaker is expected to return from his shoulder injury to start Monday's series opener against the Yankees, and he could act as the No. 3 in a shortened role, but Toronto will need this version of Walker to show up again when the spotlight is brighter.

The Blue Jays' offense on Sunday started with some overdue luck -- including their first run scoring on a balk by Adonis Medina, who was making his MLB debut -- but they got back to their old ways in the later innings. The most encouraging signs came from Bo Bichette and Teoscar Hernández, both of whom had returned from injuries recently but were still working to find their form. Bichette doubled and hit his first MLB triple in a 2-for-4 day, while Hernández, the club’s breakout star of 2020, launched his 16th home run of the season.

Hernández appeared to injure himself later in the game after making a running catch up against the wall in right field.

His right foot jammed on the lower area of the wall where it meets the ground, but Montoyo said Hernández was fine after finishing up the game and should have no issues going forward.