Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

The stat line for Taijuan Walker in Saturday’s heartbreaking 8-7 loss to the Yankees does not tell an accurate picture of the game.

In six innings, Walker allowed six hits, fives earned runs and one walk. He struck eight batters, but perhaps the roughest part of his evening was serving up three home runs to Yankee hitters.

The game started off without much stress. Although Walker walked the opening batter, DJ LeMahieu, and later allowed a single to Giancarlo Stanton with two outs, the inning ended a batter later with an Anthony Rizzo groundout.

The second inning was Walker’s one bad inning, but to keep it simple, the Yankees had his number in this frame.

A Gleyber Torres leadoff single would set the pace for an inning that would see the Yankees score five runs. Two batters later, Kyle Higashioka sent a home run into the left-center seats, making it a 2-0 ballgame. After a Corey Kluber groundout, LeMahieu reached base again — this time by way of a single. Brett Gardner then homered to right center, the second long ball Walker allowed in the inning.

But the Yankees were not done.

After a mound visit hoping to calm down Walker, Aaron Judge belted a four-bagger to center field, extending the Yankees lead to 5-0. Walker was finally able to escape the inning on the next batter, but the damage had been done.

Based on this chain of events, you might have expected Walker pitched another inning or so and then be pulled from the game after another disappointing start. However, not only did Walker settle in beginning in the third, he would not allow another runner to reach base.

A 1-2-3 third inning was highlighted by strikeouts of Torres and Gio Urshela. In the fourth, Walker struck out the side — two by way of the called-third-strike.

The fifth and sixth innings saw Walker add on another two K’s, bringing his total to eight for the night.

A strikeout of Gio Urshela would be his last batter of the evening. After that Aaron Judge home run, Walker did not allow any Yankees batter to do anything other than get out.

Just as Walker’s season has been a tale of two seasons pre-and-post All-Star Break, his start against the Yankees can also be divided into two distinct periods. There was the hard-hit first and second innings, but then there was the perfect third through sixth innings.

In this six innings of work, Walker threw five pitches (four-seam fastball, slider, splitter, sinker, curveball), but it was his four-seamer and slider that were thrown most effectively. The fastball was thrown the most of any of his pitches (44%), generating 13 called strikes. Of his pitch types thrown at least ten times, the slider produced the highest whiff rate at 36%.

Walker’s fastball use improved as the game went on, but he did allow two home runs on the pitch.

Meanwhile, that 1-2-3 top of the fourth that saw Walker strike out all three batters? The three outs were via splitter, slider, and another splitter, the last one on a swinging strike.

In one of the most emotional and, despite the loss, most incredible games for the Mets over the past ten years, Walker stepped up when needed. FOX announcer Joe Buck was quick to praise Walker in his later innings as Walker continued to dominate despite the difficult beginning.

With more than 41,000 fans at the ballpark for the first time all season, Walker soaked in the moment. He rose up to the occasion in pitching for a Mets team that was so close to a remarkable comeback win. This game was about more than baseball, though, as the emotion of the evening often rose above the events on the field.

“It was emotional, I definitely had chills,” Walker said after the game concluded.

Box score aside, Walker pitched well, and the composure he showed in four plus perfect innings to end his night is exactly what the Mets have been missing out of Walker since early July.

Job well done, Taijuan.

Walker’s final line: 6 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 3 HR, 103 pitches