The box score will dutifully record that Phillies righthander Taijuan Walker improved his record to 13-4 Sunday. A little internet sleuthing would further reveal that only Justin Steele of the Cubs has any many victories.
These are words that feel as though they should be rendered in sepia tones. Wins, once the hallmark of greatness for starting pitchers, has been largely devalued in the era of advanced metrics. And that makes some sense. Starters don’t pitch as deep into games as they used to, and so have less sway over the final outcome. Not to mention that the amount of run support they get is completely beyond their control.
Rob Thomson begs to differ. “A lot of people don’t weigh wins as much as they used to. But I do,” the manager said. “It tells you something about the pitcher. He’s giving you at least five innings. And he’s not giving up as many as you’re scoring, So I think that’s important. I really do.”
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There’s no getting around the reality that the big righthander benefitted from his teammates scoring five times in the first two innings, one more than he gave up in the same span, on the way to sealing a series win over the last-place Royals with an 8-4 victory.
In the beginning, he wasn’t tricking anybody. His velocity was down. He allowed up more hits (5) and more earned runs (3) in the first inning alone than he totaled in eight of his 22 previous starts this season. Overall, he’s allowed two or fewer runs 13 times this year and less than five hits on 11 occasions.
It was an open question how long he’s last after he gave up a two-run homer in the second and then hit Royals catcher Salvador Perez with a pitch. And then, just like that, something changed and his afternoon became a split screen.
Walker would hang around long enough to complete seven innings, facing 18 more batters. Only two reached base: Matt Duffy on a walk in the fourth and Freddy Fermin on a two-out double in the fifth.
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“He grinded it out, for sure. Pretty much a dogfight all day,” said catcher Garrett Stubbs. “It’s tough to go out there when you don’t feel your best. But to be able to seven innings without him having his best stuff is just kind of a testament to the mentality he has when he goes out on the mound.
“It was fun working with him even when he wasn’t at his best because you know he’s out there working his butt off to make sure we have a chance to win.”
Nobody seems to have a good explanation for why Walker’s velocity has had a tendency to tick up as the game goes on.
“It’s probably just getting the arm going a little bit in those later innings,” Stubbs said. “Starting to get a little more comfortable with the zone and letting it rip a little bit. But there’s nothing I can see from behind the plate. I always just know he’s going to figure it out, even if he does have a tough first inning. His mentality is about as good as it gets.”
Guessed Thomson: “I don’t know whether he’s going through some dead arm or what it is. But the one thing about Taijuan is he competes, even if he doesn’t have his good stuff, he finds a way. He adapts and adjusts. I think he just kind of figures it out on the fly. It’s incredible what he can do.”
Said Walker: “I’m not sure that that (lower early velocity) right now. We’re still trying to figure it out. It could be August, just that part of the season right now. I’ll have a couple extra days (of rest before my next start) and we’ll see how everything goes and come up with a plan.
“I feel like I don’t have that good whip early, that little extra. But as the game gets going I have more and more warmed up and start to feel good. I wanted to come out guns blazing. It would be a lot better. The last two starts haven’t gone the way I wanted early, so I’ve got to find a way to settle down.”
And how does he feel about the importance of wins for starting pitchers?
“For me, my job is just to go out there and give my time the best chance to win,” he said. “It’s hard to say. I think if you’re racking up wins, you’re doing your job as a pitcher.”