Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Taijuan Walker‘s comeback for the Mets on Saturday couldn’t have been scripted much better. Despite the bats going cold in a 4-1 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field, Walker more than did his job in what was his first start since going down with shoulder bursitis. The righty didn’t miss a beat and he had filthy stuff all night long with all of his pitches. His fastball in particular doing a great job of shutting down an explosive Phillies’ offense.

With his shoulder looking good to go and showing no ill effects, Walker got to work straight away as he carved out a 1-2-3 inning in the first. He forced Jean Segura to ground out and Rhys Hoskins to fly out, before winning a marathon battle with Bryce Harper who struck out swinging on a 91.2 MPH splitter after an eight-pitch at-bat.

Nick Castellanos did single to lead-off the second but Walker displayed superb instincts to pick off the slugger at first. He then forced Kyle Schwarber to ground into a double play to end the inning. Walker did run into some trouble in the third as he gave up a lead-off single to Alec Bohm before walking Odubel Herrera. However, he used a combination of his slider and sinker to get both Segura and Hoskins out and work his way out of a jam without incurring any damage.

Another 1-2-3 inning followed in the fourth as Walker leaned on his fastball and slider to take down the heart of the Phillies’ lineup. The 29 year old elicited a 33% whiff rate on both pitches while also touching 96.2 MPH on his lethal fastball.

Walker would end up retiring eight straight batters as he forced Schwarber, Bohm, and Didi Gregorius to all ground out in the fifth. He performed nice work of rolling through his four main pitches to get the job done. Overall, he contained a Phillies’ lineup that can do plenty of damage when given the opportunity.

Having reached 73 pitches in his first game back, Walker was replaced on the mound by Trevor May in the sixth having. Walker gave the Mets five scoreless innings in his return, allowing just two hits with two walks and striking out one. It was an impressive outing from Walker who pitched freely without any obvious pain or restrictions, and the starter was happy to get five innings under his belt.

“I felt really good out there,” Walker said. “Just the shoulder feeling really good and to get through five innings finally and feeling good with it.”

“My shoulder feels great and my knee feels great so I’m looking forward to getting into my routine and looking forward to facing them again in five days.”

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Having Walker back healthy and throwing filthy stuff is a big plus for the Mets. Manager Buck Showalter was impressed by how long the righty was able to go in his first game back.

“Life on his fastball and all of his pitches he was using and he felt good physically,” Showalter said. “It was a tough decision in the fifth inning, I wanted him to get the fifth up if I could and he was close to where we wanted to take him, so that’s why we had a pitcher ready in case there was an issue there.”

“I wasn’t going to let him go too long but he was able to finish the fifth.”

This season, while still very young, has been full of positives for the Mets and Walker’s solid outing on Saturday was another to add to the long list. Mets’ starters now own a 2.44 ERA through 22 games. The group has also not allowed a run in the first five innings in 12 of their 22 games.

Walker has shown in his limited starts this season that he is back to the pitcher who earned a first All-Star appearance in 2o21. If he can now stay healthy, then the Mets’ rotation just gets stronger and stronger. This especially with Jacob deGrom set to return at some point.