Taijuan Walker’s return to the Phillies came under circumstances that, in a vacuum, would be ideal. A home crowd and a rookie hurler on the opposing side. But baseball games are not played in vacuums. They are played in ballparks. And Citizens Bank Park is, at this moment, home to a reeling ballclub and fans caught somewhere between disbelief and apoplexy.
Walker got off to a rocky start, walking the second and third batters he faced. A bloop single from Jonah Bride scored one, and another bloop from Otto Lopez scored another.
His second inning, however, was the inverse of his first: a neat, tidy and rapid 1-2-3.