Admit it. When Taijuan Walker was scheduled to pitch last year, watching the game was a little less important, right? And when you heard he was going into the rotation with Ranger Suarez headed to the IL, you cringed a little, didn’t you? Yeah, me too!

Don’t look now, but Walker threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings against the Braves Wednesday night to go with the six scoreless he gave the Phillies against the Colorado Rockies last week. That’s 10 2/3 scoreless innings for a guy who finished last season with a 7.10 ERA in 15 starts and four relief appearances with the Phillies in 2024. You could maybe understand him getting through the Rockies lineup, but the Braves are a different story.

It wasn’t the easiest of outings and at times, had us wondering just how soon Suarez could possibly be back, but he stranded two runners in the second and three in the third without giving up a run. He pitched around a leadoff single in the fourth and then with the help of Jose Ruiz, again stranded three runners in the fifth. Ruiz came on to get the final out of the inning to frustrate the Braves.

In both the second and third innings, all of the trouble started after Walker retied the first two hitters, which is something for Walker and the Phillies to figure out if Walker was doing something different with two outs. The Phillies owe Walker $18-million both this season and next season, so anything that they can get out of him is helpful. When Suarez returns, Walker will likely retreat to the bullpen which is where he was scheduled to pitch for the Phillies this season.

For his part, after working out of the bases loaded jam in the fifth, Ruiz allowed two earned runs in the sixth. He also allowed an earned run in one inning of work in his first outing of the season in Washington. Between the two outings were three scoreless outings, one of 0.2 innings and two outings of 0.1 innings each. Perhaps the message here is to limit Ruiz to working out of a jam rather than getting any sort of length out of him.

Joe Ross allowed one earned run in 1.2 innings of work and Jose Alvarado upped his record to 2-0 this season by getting the final four outs of the inning after the Phillies had pulled ahead in the top of the ninth on a Trea Turner home run, his first of the season. Bryce Harper hit his second home run of the season earlier in the game for the Phillies.