Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Taijuan Walker showed up in a big way for the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon, throwing seven shutout innings during a 4-0 win over the Washington Nationals at Citi Field. Walker’s seven innings marked the deepest he’s gone in a game so far this season, which was even more important to do since he had failed to complete five innings in each of his last two starts.
The right-hander gave up just three hits and three walks with four strikeouts over the course of 95 pitches (59 strikes) thrown. After this most recent performance, his ERA through four starts sits at 2.14.
Walker met with the media following his outing and said his goal when he’s on the mound is to “pound the strike zone and let them put the ball in play.” That’s exactly what he did, and Walker credited his defense for playing great on Sunday.
“Give it up to the defense, they came through for me. Offense putting up early helped me and let me attack with my pitches,” said Walker. “Almora had a sick catch and probably saved me another inning.”
While this was the deepest he pitched into a game so far on the young season, Walker still was not satisfied with his overall outing. “It definitely wasn’t my best (game). I had to grind to make pitches. After Almora made the catch I picked up that energy and was able to go out for the seventh.”
Walker said he was trying to throw his curveball on Sunday and keep the Nationals off balance, but reiterated that he battled out there on the mound to get outs.
“It felt good to go seven innings and get the win and it was a good series win for us,” said the hurler, who picked up his first win of the season to improve his personal record to 1-1.
