Taijuan Walker struggles, Phillies come up short in the 9th in series finale loss to the Cardinals

Taijuan Walker and the Phillies failed to complete the sweep of the Cardinals yesterday in St. Louis, dropping the series finale 6-5.

Walker pitched seven innings yesterday, allowing eight hits and five earned runs with a walk and three strikeouts. He ran into trouble in the bottom of the third inning coughing up two doubles to Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado that put the Phillies in a 3-0 hole early.

The Phillies did however, respond immediately in the top of the fourth inning. Bryson Stott plated a run on a sacrifice bunt and Nick Castellanos got Alec Bohm and JT Realmuto across home plate thanks to a throwing error by Cards’ second baseman Juniel Querecuto.

In the following inning, Goldschmidt and Arenado struck again, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead heading heading into the top of the eighth inning.

Alec Bohm hit a solo home run to cut the Phillies’ deficit to just one run and Nick Castellanos then tied it with an RBI single to left field that scored Bryson Stott.

Alec Bohm Solo Home Run

With the game tied, Seranthony Dominguez, who continues to be everything but consistent out of the bullpen this season allowed a go-ahead home run to Jordan Walker in the bottom of the eighth inning, marking the third home run the Phillies’ reliever has allowed in his past five outings.

The Fightins hung in the ballgame until the final outs. With runs on first and second and one away in the bottom of the ninth inning, JT Realmuto struck out swinging on THREE PITCHES and Johan Rojas ended the game with a fly-out to centerfield.

Realmuto, who hasn’t exactly been himself at the plate this season is now batting a miserable .190 with runners in scoring position. To put that into perspective, he batted .279 with RISP over the previous two years.

Rough finale in St. Louis. Walker continues to struggle. The bullpen continues to struggle. JT Realmuto continues to struggle in big moments.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of unanswered questions with just 13 games left in the regular season as the Phillies will now head to Atlanta for three games against the Braves.

Phillies Hunt for Red October

The Phillies are just 4-6 over the past 10 games, but have managed to hold onto the top spot in the NL Wild Card regardless of their recent struggles.

With 13 games remaining, they have a three game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks, who now hold the second Wild Card ticket, while the Cubs, losers of five-straight, and Marlins, winners of three-straight, battle it out for the final spot in the 2023 postseason.

Phillies Games Remaining: at ATL (3), vs. NYM (4), vs. PIT (3), at NYM (3)