SEATTLE — Taijuan Walker’s sudden rise from phenom to big-time starter fizzled out with his first rough outing in more than six weeks Tuesday night.
The Mariners’ 22-year-old starter saw his five-game winning streak snapped — albeit with a no-decision — after getting tagged for three home runs in Seattle’s 7-6 win over the Detroit Tigers. Walker struggled through his worst start since May, allowing five runs on six hits in six innings.
“I felt like my stuff was pretty good,” he said, “but when I missed a little bit, they did damage.”
Despite giving up back-to-back homers in the second inning, Walker took a 5-3 lead into the fourth — only to give it back up on Alex Avila’s two-run homer.
“I’m kind of mad at myself,” Walker said. “They gave me that big lead, and I gave it up. But I kept my composure, I kept attacking, and getting through six innings was huge.”
Along the way, Walker saw his streak of 111 consecutive batters without a walk snapped — he issued a free pass to Avila in the second inning — and allowed as many runs (five) as he had over his previous four starts combined.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Walker was 6-1 with a 1.68 ERA over his previous seven starts. After opening the season so poorly — following his May 2 start, Walker was 1-3 with an ERA of 8.74 — that Mariners fans were hoping for a demotion to Triple-A, the young phenom has lived up to the billing in recent weeks.
Whether Tuesday night was just a bump in the road or a turning point remains to be seen, but Walker showed in his latest outing that he still has plenty of room to grow.