The Philadelphia Phillies were mediocre after their first 26 games, but they have been one of the best teams in the majors following their 13-13 start to the season.
Philadelphia is 17-5 since then and recorded its fifth straight win with a 7-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
The Phillies will look to continue their good fortune on Wednesday night in the third contest of a four-game series in Denver.
Philadelphia will send right-hander Taijuan Walker (1-3, 2.62 ERA) to the mound against Rockies left-hander Carson Palmquist (0-1, 11.25).
Walker will face Colorado for the second time this season and the 10th time in his career. He threw six shutout innings against the Rockies on April 3, picking up the victory in the Phillies’ 3-1 win to improve to 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA versus Colorado in his career.
The win in Philadelphia last month remains his only victory despite having a low ERA in his eight appearances (six starts) this season. He has pitched out of the bullpen in his last two games, with Wednesday night set to serve as his first start since May 1.
His teammates scored only two runs for him in that outing, but they have surged offensively in the first two games of this series. The highlight was Kyle Schwarber’s 300th career home run in Monday night’s 9-3 win, a 466-foot shot that went off the facing of the third deck at Coors Field.
“It’s a cool milestone,” said Schwarber, 32, who homered again Tuesday night. “I think the biggest thing is there’s a lot more to come. If they asked 12-year-old Kyle if he’d hit 300 homers, I would have said, ‘Probably not.’ But I’ve always loved the game, and I didn’t know what it would hold, but it’s been really gracious to me.”
The Phillies will face a pitcher making his second career start.
Palmquist, 24, made his major league debut Friday in Arizona when he allowed five runs in four innings of an 8-0 loss to the Diamondbacks.
Despite his rough debut, Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said he saw good things from Palmquist.
“I thought he competed. That’s a lot to ask for your first major league game, but I love the poise, and I thought it was a good first one for him,” Schaeffer said. “He attacked the strike zone, which you don’t always see in a guy’s debut. After the first inning, he told me his legs stopped shaking, he settled in and he started pumping strikes. The more he does that, the better off he’s going to be.”
Palmquist is the seventh Colorado player and fifth pitcher to make his big league debut this season. The Rockies have gone to a full youth movement, with 10 players 25 or younger, and it has contributed to an 8-40 start, the worst in the majors during the modern era.
Getting shortstop Ezequiel Tovar back from a hip injury hasn’t changed the Rockies’ fortunes, but he has played well in the field and at the plate. He is 8-for-17 with two homers since returning on Friday.
–Field Level Media
