CHICAGO -- The idea seemed simple enough on paper.
Taijuan Walker has endured a brutal stretch of starts to open the season, with a large chunk of his troubles occurring in the first inning. So, the Phillies removed the opening frame from the equation, using reliever Kyle Backhus as an opener against the Cubs Wednesday night at Wrigley Field before handing things over to Walker.
It initially looked like the move would pay off. Walker quickly retired the first two hitters he faced in the second before getting Miguel Amaya to send a fly ball to center on his eighth pitch of the night. Unfortunately, center fielder Justin Crawford fumbled the catch, an error that was followed by Pete Crow-Armstrong's RBI double.
Whatever hopes the Phillies placed in this strategy unraveled quickly from there. Walker allowed five runs (four earned) over his four innings on the mound, while Philly's latest lineup tweaks provided minimal progress at the plate.
Try as they might, the Phillies’ continued efforts to strategize their way out of their funk fell short in a 7-2 loss. It pushed their losing streak to eight straight games, their longest such slump since Sept. 20-28, 2018.
“It’s just not going our way right now,” Walker said. "When you get in these ruts, it’s hard to get out of sometimes. Right now, we’ve just gotta get out of it.
“Everyone’s showing up, everyone’s doing what they’ve got to do -- having good at-bats, hitting the ball hard. Just not getting the job done.”
Using an opener for Walker, while also making another adjustment to a lineup that has been rejiggered throughout the past week, is proof the team is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to finding a way out of this slump. Unfortunately, every new attempt to combat the losing streak has come up empty.
Walker, who entered with a 24.75 ERA in the opening frame and an opponents’ OPS of 1.483, allowed homers to Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki. He’s given up eight blasts on the year, and the consistent hard contact he allowed Wednesday night indicated solving his troubles will take more than changing the inning in which his outing starts.
Meanwhile, manager Rob Thomson continues to adjust his lineup in any way he can to wake up his offense. Adolis García became the everyday cleanup hitter on April 13, but he batted just .217 over the next seven games. He was replaced by Felix Reyes on Tuesday, who was playing in just his second big league game. Kyle Schwarber was moved to the leadoff spot Wednesday night, yet he went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.
Philadelphia had nine hits on the night, and Edmundo Sosa’s second-inning RBI double snapped the club’s 0-for-26 stretch with runners in scoring position. Still, the offense has only been able to score in fits and starts, failing to plate more than three runs for the sixth time in the past seven games.
“We can do everything better right now. We’re not doing much right,” said Trea Turner, who went 1-for-4 in his first game removed from the leadoff spot this season. “I feel like we get one guy on base and then the inning kind of dies for whatever reason. That’s just not good enough.”
Turner admitted that it’s been hard not to let the struggles from this particular series wear on hitters at the plate. The Phillies spent Monday night watching the Cubs make a week’s worth of defensive highlights on hard-hit balls. On both Tuesday and Wednesday night, Philly was able to erase an early Chicago lead, only to hand it right back one half-inning later.
And despite creating constant traffic on Wednesday, the Phillies had only four at-bats with runners in scoring position, while combining for 12 strikeouts.
“There’s a lot of frustration here,” Thomson said. “Not much is going right for us right now, and at times we’re not playing well. We’ve just gotta stay after it and keep fighting.”
The Phillies continue making whatever adjustments they can to bring this turbulent stretch to a close. Their search to find one that can finally snap the skid remains ongoing after Wednesday night.
“It sucks,” Turner said. “We’re not having much fun in here, which is tough. This is a great game, and we’re lucky to play it. When you are expected to win and you want to win and it’s not happening, it’s tough and not fun.”