Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets sent the struggling Taijuan Walker to the mound in Miami Tuesday night. While Walker didn’t quite have it together in the first three innings, he did get improve as the game went on.
Miguel Rojas flew out to begin the bottom of the first. Jesus Aguilar doubled Isan Díaz to third after his one-out single. Brian Anderson flew out to second, Diaz did not tag. Walker escaped the jam by striking out Lewis Brinson to end the inning.
Jorge Alfaro opened the second with a groundout. Bryan De La Cruz stretched an infield single to third and was quickly picked off first base. Alex Jackson followed up with a solo home run, and Walker answered by striking out Nick Neidert to end the inning.
The third inning is when the game took a turn for the worse. Díaz hit a one-out home run to make it a 2-0 ballgame. Walker then walked Aguilar and struck out Anderson for the second out. Miami rallied with two outs after a Brinson and Alfaro walk to load the bases. De la Cruz singled to center which drove in Aguilar and Brinson.
In the fourth inning, Walker got into a groove and got three straight groundouts by Neidert, Rojas, and Díaz for a quick 1-2-3 inning. The fifth inning was more in same as Aguilar and Anderson flew out, and Brinson grounded out for another 1-2-3 inning, and seven straight retired by Walker.
After the game, Walker said, “I think I’m going in the right direction.”
It’s hard to take many positives out of this game, but Walker did look better as the game went on. It’s nice to see after a handful of bad outings from the 2021 All-Star.
Walker came out for the sixth and was able to get eight straight outs with an Alfaro fly out to right field. De la Cruz reached on an infield single, and Jackson struck out, ending Walker’s night. Walker ended up going 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, and 4 Ks on 93 pitches.
Hopefully, Walker is able to carry on some of his success from the end of the game, and the Mets will surely need it with their pitching woes continuing to be a major question mark.
