Walker excellent as Phils' pitching continues upward trend

PHILADELPHIA -- Taijuan Walker untucked his jersey and removed his cap in the Phillies’ dugout. He shook his head.

He could not believe he would not pitch the sixth inning in Sunday’s 7-3 victory over the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park. He had allowed just two hits through five scoreless innings. He struck out five and walked two. He had thrown only 83 pitches, 22 fewer than his season high on April 9. He continued to throw the ball harder than he had all season.

But Walker has not been as effective his third time through the lineup this year. Plus, the Phillies have had the National League’s best bullpen since mid-April. In Phillies manager Rob Thomson’s mind, it was the perfect time to deploy his top relievers.

“I asked him, ‘Three times?’” Walker said, smiling. “Just calmly asked him, ‘Three times?’ But again, the bullpen needed to get some work and again, we won the game, so that’s all that matters.”

It did not work exactly as planned. The bullpen allowed three runs in four innings, but the Phillies won anyway. They have won seven of eight as they open a seven-game road trip Monday night in Arizona.

“This is the type of baseball that we know we can play,” Trea Turner said.

The Phillies’ bullpen has been a source of frustration for years, until the middle of last season, when it stabilized to help the team make the World Series. It started 2023 poorly, but it has a 3.09 ERA since April 15. It entered the afternoon with the best ERA in the NL and the third-best ERA in baseball in that span. Phillies relievers had the second-lowest average exit velocity allowed (88.2 mph), the fourth-lowest expected slugging percentage allowed (.389) and seventh-lowest expected batting average allowed (.240) in that time.

“They’ve been great, every one of them,” Thomson said. “We’ve got power guys. We’ve got guys like [Andrew] Vasquez, who just fills it up and throws sliders and gets right-handed and left-handed hitters out. [Yunior] Marte is throwing strikes now with a bowling-ball sinker and a really good slider. They’re just all really good.”

The bullpen could be even better in the coming weeks.

Left-hander José Alvarado rejoined the team on Friday after missing nearly a month because of inflammation in his left elbow. He joins Craig Kimbrel, Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto in the back end. In front of them are Matt Strahm -- who will start Monday night’s bullpen game against the D-backs -- and surprises like Jeff Hoffman (3.00 ERA in 11 appearances), Vasquez (1.26 ERA in 20 appearances) and Marte (eight scoreless appearances since he got recalled from Triple-A on May 20).

“They’re coming after guys, not getting themselves in trouble too much,” said Nick Castellanos, who hit a two-run homer in the seventh.

The Dodgers wondered when they might face the Phillies’ bullpen, which is something teams don’t typically look forward to. But Walker, who has a 1.93 ERA in his last five starts, struck out Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman swinging on splitters to start the game.

The Dodgers knew then they might be in for a long day.

“Taijuan’s splitter is really, really good, and he had it working today,” Freeman said. “Kind of glad he came out after five innings.”

Thomson said he pulled Walker because of the pitch count and because he wanted Soto to face Freeman, but also because it was Walker's third time through the lineup. Opponents had hit .240 against Walker the first two times they have faced him this season. They had hit .308 against him the third time. Walker’s walk rate also jumped from 10.4 percent the first two times through the lineup to 13 percent the third time through.

Freeman hit a solo homer against Soto to cut the Phillies’ lead to 3-1. Domínguez allowed a solo homer to Jason Heyward in the seventh to cut the Phillies’ lead to 4-2. Alvarado loaded the bases and allowed a run in the eighth.

Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth to end it.

The Phillies’ offense has picked up in this eight-game stretch. So have Phillies starters. They have a 1.52 ERA in this 7-1 run. They will need both, plus the bullpen, in Arizona. The D-backs are tied with Atlanta for the best record in the National League. The Phillies are 4-12 at Chase Field since June 2017.