Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Taijuan Walker exited Thursday evening’s game against the New York Mets with an injury sustained in the top of the fourth inning after Starling Marte lined a ball off of his left foot. Walker departed with a left big toe contusion, but X-Rays were negative. “It feels better now than when […]
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Taijuan Walker exited Thursday evening’s game against the New York Mets with an injury sustained in the top of the fourth inning after Starling Marte lined a ball off of his left foot.
Walker departed with a left big toe contusion, but X-Rays were negative.
“It feels better now than when it first happened,” Walker said postgame. “You know, I tried to walk it off, but it just got kinda hot and numb, and started hurting.
“But it definitely feels a lot better, especially after getting the X-Ray and everything was negative … everything was clean,” Walker continued. “So, that made me feel a lot better. But definitely sore bruise … starting to swell a little bit, but could have been a lot worse.”
The 31-year-old righty had allowed four hits and two runs over 3 1/3 innings pitched, seeing his ERA climb to 4.91 over parts of four starts this season.
Manager Rob Thomson said postgame that the Phillies will have to see how Walker feels tomorrow before having a better idea of if he’ll be able to make his next scheduled start. Walker, of course, began the season on the injured list with right shoulder soreness. In his absence, Spencer Turnbull pitched at a very high level. If Walker were to have to go back on the injured list, Turnbull would presumably return to the rotation.
However, Turnbull pitched three innings of relief in Wednesday’s win, so he wasn’t an option Thursday. Matt Strahm took the mound when Walker exited the game.
