PHILADELPHIA \u2014 It took a mere 35 seconds after the first pitch Saturday afternoon for the first boos to fill Citizens Bank Park. But, by one measure, Taijuan Walker\u2019s first inning was a success. He had allowed four first-inning runs in his first start and three first-inning runs in his second start. He limited it to two runs in the first inning of his third start.<\/p>\n
When asked before a 4-3 Philadelphia Phillies win over the Arizona Diamondbacks about what he was looking to see from Walker, Phillies manager Rob Thomson was blunt: \u201cGet him through the first inning, to start with. You know? Because that\u2019s kind of been the bugaboo for him.\u201d Opponents are hitting .526 with a 1.053 slugging percentage against Walker in the first inning this season.<\/p>\n
Only one pitcher in the sport has allowed more first-inning runs than Walker (66) since 2023, his first year with the Phillies. That is Washington\u2019s Jake Irvin, who has made 23 more starts than Walker has during that span and permitted 68 first-inning runs.<\/p>\n
So, it prompts a question leading into Walker\u2019s next outing: Would the Phillies benefit from trying an opener before Walker?<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, he\u2019s still going to have his first inning,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cEven if it\u2019s the second inning. So maybe it\u2019s a situation where you simulate a first inning in the bullpen. Get him hot, sit down, throw 15 to 20 pitches, and then come on out. I don\u2019t know. We got to look at it. We\u2019ve got to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is true. But maybe not facing the opposition\u2019s Nos. 1-3 hitters in his first inning would help Walker along. The opener is there to combat the top of the lineup. Then, Walker could try to go through the lineup twice.<\/p>\n
The first inning, to Walker, is a matter of mindset. His first fastball of the game was 90.7 mph. His last fastball in the first inning was 93.2 mph.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to get the energy levels up,\u201d Walker said. \u201cTrying to simulate hitters. It\u2019s a different adrenaline from the bullpen to the mound.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies have another option: They could just skip Walker next time around. They are off Thursday. Walker would start Friday\u2019s series opener against the Atlanta Braves if the Phillies stay in rotation. While Walker has looked like a competent fifth starter at times \u2014 he did, after all, make it through five innings Saturday \u2014 it would not be the first time in baseball history that a team skipped its fifth starter.<\/p>\n
The Walker issue, for now, is a short-term one. Zack Wheeler will return to the Phillies\u2019 rotation by the end of the month, and then the Phillies will have a decision to make: Do they keep Walker around as a long man\/rotation insurance?<\/p>\n
Alec Bohm\u2019s tribulations<\/p>\n
Alec Bohm went from the team\u2019s cleanup hitter to batting eighth in the span of four days. Everyone has said the right things ever since the Phillies were on the verge of acquiring a new third baseman, Bo Bichette, in January. But it\u2019s not hard to see where this goes if Bohm cannot pull out of a season-starting slump.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to take some heat off him,\u201d Thomson said before Saturday\u2019s game, \u201cand just let him breathe a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bohm, even at his best, might be miscast as a cleanup hitter. He is not a prototypical power bat. Fourteen games into the season, he\u2019s yet to pull a ball in the air. That is a problem, even if Bohm is best when he\u2019s spraying the ball in the gaps.<\/p>\n
That approach works lower in the lineup, where Bohm can fit. Two weeks do not make a season. But this is the second consecutive season that, in the 14th game, Thomson dropped Bohm to the eighth spot in the lineup. The Phillies let Bohm try to hit his way out of it last season.<\/p>\n
They might be less inclined to do it again this season.<\/p>\n
Edmundo Sosa could steal a start at third base in the coming days, even as the Phillies face all right-handed starting pitchers. There would be even more pressure on Bohm had Aidan Miller, the club\u2019s top prospect, started the season healthy. But Miller missed most of spring training with chronic back pain and has only just begun light swinging. He is weeks, if not months, from playing in a minor-league game. Last week, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, citing HIPAA law, declined to detail Miller\u2019s specific back ailment.<\/p>\n
Bohm is hitless in his last 13 at-bats. Thomson said he spoke to Bohm before moving him down in the lineup. The manager wanted to make it clear the Phillies have not lost confidence in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he knows that all we\u2019re trying to do is help him,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cHe just needs to relax and be himself because he can hit. We all know he can hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Adolis Garc\u00eda will be the cleanup hitter beginning Monday when the Phillies face the Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n
Short hops<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tim Mayza had retired 23 hitters in a row before a sixth-inning single Saturday afternoon. The 34-year-old lefty has been a terrific find for the Phillies. Most telling: Mayza has held righty batters to one hit in 12 at-bats with four strikeouts and no walks. Righties had an .823 OPS against Mayza for his career entering this season.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bryce Harper has seven extra-base hits, tied for the most he\u2019s had through the first 14 games of a season since 2019.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bryson Stott is playing a Gold Glove-caliber second base two weeks into the season. It was above-average defense before, but even better so far in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Phillies reworked Dylan Moore\u2019s contract before adding him to the roster just before Opening Day. His guaranteed salary, per a league source, is $1.45 million (down from $1.85 million in the original agreement). He has $100,000 bonuses for 100, 200, 300 and 400 plate appearances. Moore has batted seven times in the first 14 games.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Outfield prospect Dante Nori has been limited to at-bats as a designated hitter at Double-A Reading because of a shoulder injury suffered during the World Baseball Classic, Thomson said. Nori will soon begin a one-week throwing program, then ease back into outfield reps. He was hitting .385\/.407\/.538 in his first six games at Reading.<\/p>\n
\u2022 One farmhand to monitor: Connor Gillispie, who signed a minor-league contract during spring training, has pitched his way into Triple-A Lehigh Valley\u2019s rotation. Gillispie, 28, has posted 13 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts and three walks at Lehigh Valley. He started six games for the Miami Marlins last season and could be useful rotation depth in 2026. His fastball sat at 93 mph in his most recent outing.<\/p>\n
The Athletic\u2018s Charlotte Varnes contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 It took a mere 35 seconds after the first pitch Saturday afternoon for the first boos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-674032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116391440785236582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}