Taijuan Walker's struggles continue in Phillies' 9-0 loss to Braves

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 17, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — Ahead of Taijuan Walker’s start against the Braves Friday night, the Phillies tried changing up his routine.

The first inning has been especially problematic for Walker this season: In his first three starts, he had a 27.00 ERA in the first inning. The idea was that ramping up his pitches at the end of his pregame bullpen and having a shorter layoff time before the beginning of the game would prepare him to start stronger out of the gate.

But following Friday’s 9-0 loss to Atlanta, the search for a solution will continue.

Before recording the first out of the game, Walker loaded the bases by issuing two walks and a single. He managed to limit the damage to two runs on an RBI groundout and a single, but it already felt like the game was teetering on disaster.

And that disaster officially struck the next inning when Austin Riley teed off on a cutter for a three-run, opposite-field homer. The Braves put up four runs on four hits in the second to put the Phillies in a 6-0 hole. They tacked on one more for good measure in the third, when Dominic Smith homered on a splitter for a 7-0 Atlanta lead.

Walker consistently fell behind in the count, throwing first-pitch strikes only 48% of the time. He had inconsistent command, walking three over four innings. When he got out of the zone, Braves hitters only chased 20% of the time.

Walker’s season ERA has snowballed to 9.16 over his first four starts.

The bullpen took over in the fifth, and Tim Mayza and Tanner Banks combined to hold the Braves off the scoreboard for the next three innings. But Atlanta starter Martín Pérez became the latest lefty to confound the Phillies offense.

They did have their chances. The Phillies loaded the bases with one out in the first when the game was still within reach, but Edmundo Sosa swung at three pitches outside the zone to strike out and J.T. Realmuto flew out.

Bryce Harper accounted for three of the Phillies’ four hits against Pérez, with two singles and a one-out triple into the right-field corner. He was stranded at third base when Sosa popped out and Realmuto lined out.

Both Harper and Kyle Schwarber also hit deep flyouts to the warning track that the wind helped keep in the ballpark. But the Braves seemed unaffected by the elements. Michael Harris II homered off Orion Kerkering in the eighth and Riley homered off Chase Shugart in the ninth.

Trea Turner hit a two-out single in the ninth, but Schwarber grounded out to cap their seventh loss of the season by a margin of five runs or more. Loud boos followed the Phillies off the field as their record dropped to 8-11.