How the Phillies’ Taijuan Walker and Ranger Suárez have turned around their seasons

In quenching their long playoff drought, the Phillies last year were third in the National League in slugging, fourth in home runs and extra-base hits, and fifth in runs. And in reaching Game 6 of the World Series, they scored five or more runs in eight of 17 postseason games and averaged 4.4 runs per game.

It’s fair to say, then, that they bashed their way to the pennant.

But if the 2022 Phillies were powered by big bats, they were propped up by starting pitching. It wasn’t the collective 3.80 ERA, tied for seventh in the NL, as much as the overall workload. At a time when most teams ask less and less from their starters, the Phillies’ rotation logged a total of 896⅔ innings, second-highest total in the NL and fifth-highest in the majors.

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The formula was supposed to be the same this season, and in time, it probably will be. But while Bryce Harper has been stuck on three homers for a month and the Phillies are on pace to hit nearly 50 fewer homers than last year, the starting pitchers are holding up their end once again as the team’s backbone — and the biggest reason for a 15-5 surge entering this week’s three-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

“We have a really good offense,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said, “but the rotation that we’ve put together is a massive strength.”

Even with the No. 5 spot in flux until Cristopher Sánchez brought a smidgen of stability in his last two starts, the rotation has a 2.09 ERA in 20 games since June 3. While many other teams willingly use openers, run bullpen games, and don’t allow their starters to face any hitter three times, Phillies starters have completed at least six innings in 14 of the last 20 games. They’ve gone at least seven innings in six of those games.

It isn’t only Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, either. Ranger Suárez and Taijuan Walker — the Phillies’ No. 3 and 4 starters — have 1.04 and 0.69 ERAs, respectively, in their last four starts, in large part because they have diversified their pitch mix rather than leaning primarily on one signature pitch.

“There’s two big-picture ideas: It’s kind of rebalancing your portfolio and also this element of exploring things and exploiting things,” pitching coach Caleb Cotham said Sunday. “Outside a game, we want to explore our strengths. And then, you want to start exploiting what’s working really well. It’s kind of finding more opportunities to throw what’s really working.”

In Suárez’s case, that has meant more curveballs; in Walker’s, more cutters. And for both pitchers, it’s a contrast from the Phillies’ strategy earlier in the season when they asked Suárez and Walker to lean heavily on their best pitch to mitigate struggles after an irregular spring training.

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Suárez was supposed to pitch for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic in March but returned after one exhibition start because of stiffness in his forearm. It turned out to be a strained left elbow. He didn’t make it back until May 13, after only three minor-league tune-ups. And through four starts, nearly one-third of his pitches were sinkers. His ERA in those starts: 7.13.

Walker, meanwhile, made one start for Mexico in the WBC and would’ve started the championship game if Japan hadn’t come back to win in the ninth inning of the semifinal. After pitching less than usual in spring training, he dragged a 6.91 ERA through six starts.

Cotham and assistant pitching coach Brian Kaplan directed him to simplify things in games while he sharpened his repertoire and built arm strength. Walker threw his trademark splitter more than half the time May 7 against the Red Sox. He allowed one run in six innings.

“You have a north star of where, quote-unquote, optimal is, or where your strengths are,” Cotham said. “With Tai, the splitter came in, and it was like, let’s just really resolidify who you are. And that worked. But at the same time, he worked on his other pitches, developed a feel of other things, so he’s got more options right now.”

Walker tapped into those other pitches, notably the cutter, after lasting only four innings in a June 1 start in New York against the Mets. After throwing the cutter only 9.1% of the time through 12 starts, he has ratcheted his usage to 21.4% over his last four starts. Hitters are 3-for-20 against the cutter in June.

“Early in the counts — and really when I get behind, too — I can get some weak contact,” Walker said. “I feel like I use it to get them to put the ball in play early, but just with weak contact.”

Suárez’s success has always been predicated on locating his sinker and getting ground balls. He turned to a slider as his primary offspeed pitch until last year, when he mostly replaced it with a curveball. But he never threw the curve this often. In his last five starts, one-quarter of Suárez’s pitches have been curveballs. Opponents are 2-for-23 against the pitch.

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“It’s just a good piece for his mix,” Cotham said. “I don’t think he would say it’s the best curveball in baseball. But when you add it to his arsenal, his ability to do things with his other pitches, it’s cool.”

Until the Phillies’ sluggers heat up, it’s also necessary for the rotation to keep rolling. Suárez will start Tuesday night against the Cubs, followed by Nola and then Walker in the series finale.

“The biggest thing is they’ve just doubled down on this belief that, ‘Hey, we’re good,’” Cotham said. “There’s no panic. It’s just focusing on the work, how we think, planning our game, working through the game, and just letting their pitching genius show up. They’re very good, and it’s showing up more.”

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Last month, Trea Turner said he may be more inclined to run more “once we get rolling and start winning some games.” Sure enough, eight of Turner’s 15 steals have come in June. In the fifth inning Sunday, he stole second and third, then scored on a throwing error by Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez. ... Seranthony Domínguez played catch Sunday for the first time since straining a muscle in his left side. He’s expected to be sidelined for longer than the minimum 15-day stint on the injured list.