Mets' Taijuan Walker Unable To Repeat His Dominance Against Dodgers
After dominating the Dodgers in his last start, Mets pitcher Taijuan Walker was decent, but still not as sharp this time out against Los Angeles.
Walker ran into trouble in the bottom of the second when he issued a leadoff walk to Corey Seager, before allowing a double to Met killer Will Smith to put runners on second-and-third with nobody out. That's when the Dodgers' productive offense drove them home on two RBI groundouts by A.J. Pollock and Chris Taylor to jump out ahead at 2-0.
Following the second inning, Walker settled in to toss back-to-back scoreless frames, finishing off a nine-pitch 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth.
But in the bottom of the fifth, Walker's defense failed him, as J.D. Davis threw a ball away, which allowed the leadoff runner to advance to second base. Although Walker was one out away from escaping a jam, he gave up an RBI double to former Met Billy McKinney, who extend the Dodgers' lead to 3-1.
The Dodgers added another run in the inning on Trea Turner's RBI single, which put them up 4-1.
Walker finished his night on a positive note with a scoreless sixth inning. And while he didn't have his best performance, leaving with his team trailing by three-runs, he was solid enough to keep the Mets in the game.
However, he did not receive much run support from his offense, who were held to just one run against the Dodgers' bullpen.
Despite giving up a mere one run on two hits, to go along with eight strikeouts last Saturday, his line was different in his second straight start against the Dodgers with four runs on six hits given up, and only four strikeouts on 99 pitches. And it made his ERA rise from 3.75 to 3.86 on the year.
After the game, Walker spoke about the challenges of facing a tough Dodgers' lineup for the second time in five days.
"I think not trying to switch things up too much," said Walker of having to face the Dodgers in two straight starts. "I tried to keep the same game plan and I thought I threw the ball really well, but they got some infield hits."
"It is annoying," said Walker of his outing, which saw the Dodgers grind out runs on some less than hard hit balls. "I feel like I threw the ball well. It's just baseball....Frustrating night, but it just is what it is."
"You have (Cody) Bellinger, an MVP, hitting eighth. You can't take any pitches off."
The Mets ultimately dropped the series opener to the Dodgers with a 4-1 loss. And due to the lack of run support, Walker wound up falling to 7-8 on the season.
The Amazins' have now dropped 15 of their last 16 games, and are a season-worst five games back in the NL East. They are 1-6 in their first seven contests of a brutal 13-game stretch against the Dodgers and Giants, which has seen them fall below .500 for the second time this week.
"I know it has been tough," said Walker of the recent stretch. "We had a really good win yesterday and we are playing some really good teams. It's frustrating, we are trying to win ball games, but it's not happening right now. But we are still working and trying to stay positive."
