Phillies win in walk-off fashion against Orioles but fall to Blue Jays in split-squad games

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Last week, Toronto starter Max Scherzer expressed his dislike of the robot umpires after being on the wrong end of a couple of automatic ball-strike challenges.

So, hitting leadoff Sunday in a 5-4 Phillies loss to the Blue Jays, Trea Turner decided to have a little fun with his former Nationals and Dodgers teammate.

Scherzer’s first pitch of the game was a no-doubter strike. Turner tapped his head to challenge it anyway.

“Somebody said, ‘You won’t challenge the first pitch in the game,’” Turner said. “And I said, ‘That’s a great idea, I’ll do that.’ Nobody believed I was going to do it.”

Turner wasn’t the only jokester on the field. Scherzer requested Bryson Stott’s walk-up song, “AOK,” by Tai Verdes, to play when Stott was up to bat, an unusual sound to hear in an opponent’s ballpark.

“I hit him good, so he wanted to make me feel good,” said Stott, who is 8-for-13 against Scherzer in his career. On Sunday, however, he popped out in his only plate appearance against the right-hander and finished the game 0-for-2 with a walk.

Sunday was a split-squad day for the Phillies, with another group remaining in Clearwater at BayCare Ballpark and walking off the Orioles, 5-4.

Who stood out: In Dunedin, Kody Clemens homered to left field off Scherzer in the second inning and singled in the fifth. Outfield prospect Gabriel Rincones Jr. hit his third homer of the spring, this time off Bowden Francis. Max Kepler and Rafael Marchán both doubled, and Marchán caught two baserunners stealing second.

Over in Clearwater, Alec Bohm finished 2-for-3 with a two-run home run. Oscar Mercado, starting at center field, also homered.

Shortstop prospect Bryan Rincon hit a triple in the seventh inning, and later scored the winning run on Matt Kroon’s walk-off single.

On the mound: In Dunedin, Taijuan Walker made his first appearance of the spring and showed an increase in velocity. His fastball averaged 92.9 mph and topped out at 93.9 mph, after only hitting 91.5 last season. Across two innings, he allowed two hits, including a home run to Daulton Varsho. The outfielder made good contact on a slider out of the zone and sent it over the right-field wall.

Tanner Banks and Orion Kerkering each pitched an inning and each allowed a home run.

In Clearwater, Cristopher Sánchez made his second start and touched 98.3 mph with his sinker over 2⅔ innings. Three of his five strikeouts came via his changeup. Sánchez, who allowed two hits and walked one batter, also threw five cutters.

Joe Ross, José Alvarado, and José Ruiz each pitched a scoreless inning. Two unearned runs scored on Jordan Romano after two fielding errors and two singles.

Quotable: “I thought the split was good. Had depth,” manager Rob Thomson said about Walker. “He threw his secondary pitches basically where he wanted to. The home run to Varsho was a really good pitch, he just got it up in the air. But I was really happy with what he did today.”

On deck: The Phillies are off on Monday before hosting the Yankees on Tuesday at 1:05 p.m. (Phillies webcast). Zack Wheeler will start with Ranger Suárez piggybacking for his spring debut.