Walker settles, delivers quality start as Phils near the Deadline

MIAMI -- The expectation remains: the Phillies will do something before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline.

Everyone else seems to be making a deal.

Max Scherzer, Lucas Giolito, Jordan Montgomery, Jordan Hicks, David Robertson, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman, Randal Grichuk, Mark Canha, C.J. Cron, Carlos Santana, Jeimer Candelario, Paul Sewald, Reynaldo López, Amed Rosario and Noah Syndergaard are just some of the players who have been traded in the past few days.

More will be traded before the Deadline. The Phillies hope to add a right-handed bat and more pitching, but as players left loanDepot park Monday night following a badly needed 4-2 victory over the Marlins, they waited for word just like everybody else.

“I think so, I don’t know,” Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker said when asked whether players expect any trades. “It’s been kind of quiet. But we know we have a good team with what we have right now. If we add, we’re just going to get even better.”

The Phillies are 32-17 (.653) since June 2, which is the second-best record in the Major Leagues. But they have won only five of their past 12 games, which has raised concerns, especially after a pair of sloppy losses this weekend in Pittsburgh. Philadelphia’s offense has not scored as expected. Some of the club’s biggest bats have cooled or remain stuck in a season-long funk. All-Star Nick Castellanos did not play Monday and has a .348 OPS since July 3, which ranks last out of 145 qualified players. Trea Turner dropped from second to seventh in the lineup on Saturday in Pittsburgh, then he hit fifth on Sunday and sixth on Monday.

The power has not been there. The Phillies rank 21st in the Majors with 113 home runs. The Braves just hit their 200th long ball on Monday.

The Phils believe things will turn. But until they do, they will need to grind for more victories like Monday.

No one worked harder in the series opener than Walker, whose four-seam fastball averaged just 89.9 mph in the first inning (his season average is 93.3 mph). He allowed a single to Luis Arraez and a two-run home run to Jorge Soler to start the game.

It had Phillies manager Rob Thomson concerned.

“I’m wondering if there’s something going on,” he said.

But Walker settled. He rebounded, as his fastball touched 94.2 mph in the fifth and hit 94.1 mph in the seventh. Walker did not allow a run after Soler’s blast and allowed only four more hits.

Walker can’t explain why he seems to have such wild swings in velocity from start to start, with his fastballs (two-seam and four-seam) averaging as high as 94.8 mph one start and as low as 90.9 mph the next.

Walker only cares that he adjusts, competes and finds a way.

“My body -- everything feels good,” Walker said. “I was able to finish strong and come out good.”

Johan Rojas’ two-run double to left in the fourth scored Turner and Brandon Marsh to tie the game. Bryson Stott’s sacrifice fly in the seventh scored Kyle Schwarber to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.

Alec Bohm, who is hitting .358 with runners in scoring position this season, knocked in an insurance run in the eighth to make it 4-2. No qualified Phillies player has hit better with runners in scoring position in a full season (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020) since Carlos Ruiz (.368) in ‘12.

Bohm went 2-for-3 with one double, one RBI, two walks and a stolen base in the two-hole, which has been a source of concern for the Phillies this season. Their No. 2 hitters entered Monday with a combined .287 on-base percentage, which ranked 29th.

Maybe Bohm will see more time in the two-hole?

“I think so,” Thomson said.

The Phillies walked 10 times Monday, their most since they walked 11 times against the Yankees on July 21, 2021. The Phils have walked 31 times in their past four games. Have they taken advantage? No, not even close. But they believe the odds are in their favor, if they keep this approach at the plate.

Maybe another bat will help, too.

“We’ll see what happens,” Bohm said about the Deadline. “We’re focusing on what we’ve got here right now.”

“I don’t know whether they’re going to do something or not,” Thomson said pregame. “I know they’re trying. But if we did nothing, in my mind, we’re good enough. We really are. I think the message for me [if there are no trades] is just that -- it’s that this club is good enough to win right now. If we play the way we’re supposed to play, we’re good enough to win.”