David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Taijuan Walker was impressive yet again on the mound for the Mets on Saturday in an extra-innings win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Having thrown seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in his last start against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, Walker took to the mound on Saturday looking to give his team the best possible chance to win a third straight game. He certainly did that with a dominant outing.

Going up against former teammate Marcus Stroman, Walker was locked in early as he recovered from giving up an early walk to Rafael Ortega to retire the side in order. The righty did walk Frank Schwindel in the bottom of the second but, again, got through the inning unscathed by striking out P.J. Higgins.

Walker began the third by giving up a single to Christopher Morel but induced a double play and a fly out by Cubs’ catcher Willson Contreras ensured that the starter didn’t incur any damage. Walker was doing a good job of rotating through his full arsenal of pitches throughout the afternoon. However, he was having particular success with his slider which elicited a 36% whiff rate.

Now, Walker did run into some trouble in the fourth despite striking out Ian Happ with his lethal fastball. He also found success with that pitch, throwing it 26% of the time with a 20% whiff rate. However, Seiya Suzuki and Schwindel both singled which allowed Nico Hoerner to score to tie the game. Patrick Wisdom flew out to end the inning without any further damage being done, and that proved to be the lone blemish on Walker’s personal scorecard.

He rebounded in the fifth by striking out Ortega and forcing two grounders after giving up a double to Higgins. This before he finished on a high by working an impressive 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. That proved to be the end of Walker’s day, who finished his day with five strikeouts and one walk in six innings while giving up just one run on four hits.

Walker has now lowered his ERA to an impressive 2.55 heading into the All-Star break. Also, as a bonus, the starter was happy to come out on top against former teammate Marcus Stroman.

“I didn’t talk to him before the game, normally I see him across and give him a little hat tip but I was just so focussed on getting a good start in,” Walker said. “It was a good battle. I would say I won this because one, we won the game, and two, I went longer than him. It was a good win for me.”

Walker has been a consistent performer all year so far for the Mets and he showed again on Saturday. He has the ability to give his team the best possible chance to win every time he steps on the mound. And that’s all you can ask from a starter.