Phillies Pitcher Accomplishes Something for First Time in His Career

It was a career first for this Philadelphia Phillies pitcher on Wednesday.

May 7, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Taijuan Walker (99) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are in a groove right now.

They won their fourth series in a row with their dominant 7-0 victory on Wednesday, following Zack Wheeler's commanding start to open this three-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays by getting a gem from Cristopher Sanchez.

Offensively, this is the best the Phillies have looked all year, combining their newfound contact hitting ability with the power that had been missing to start the season.

That's resulted in them scoring 6.3 runs per game during this stretch where they have won eight out of their last 10 contests, showcasing their ability to put up crooked numbers both at Citizens Bank Park and away from home.

But the story coming out of Wednesday wasn't necessarily the six innings of shutout ball by Sanchez where he only allowed one hit.

It was what Taijuan Walker did behind him.

Walker Gets His First Career Save

After being moved into the bullpen following the return of Ranger Suarez, the veteran right-hander was called upon in relief.

Walker was sensational, throwing three shutout innings of his own where he allowed just one hit and struck out seven batters while issuing zero walks. Due to MLB rules, pitching three innings with a lead and closing out the game earned him a save, the first of his career.

"Absolutely keeping the ball," he said after his outing, per Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia. "I didn't ever think I would have a career save in my life so just to add that to my resume, it's pretty cool for me, I like it."

There were questions about how he might look coming out of the bullpen.

In this appearance, he put those to bed with a dominant outing where his stuff looked electric and he hit the 94 mph threshold with his fastball multiple times.

If Walker can continue doing that as a reliever, he'll be a major asset for Philadelphia.