After a 13–13 start to the season, the Philadelphia Phillies were poor after their first 26 games, but they have since become one of the top teams in the big leagues.
Philadelphia, which is now 17-5, defeated the Colorado Rockies 7–4 on Tuesday night to score its fifth consecutive victory.
In the third game of a four-game series in Denver on Wednesday, the Phillies will try to build on their recent success.
Rockies left-hander Carson Palmquist (0-1, 11.25) will face Philadelphia’s right-hander Taijuan Walker (1-3, 2.62 ERA).
Walker will play Colorado for the tenth time in his career and for the second time this season. He improved to 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA against Colorado in his career after throwing six scoreless innings against the Rockies on April 3 and winning the Phillies’ 3-1 victory.
Despite having a low ERA in his eight outings (six starts) this season, the triumph in Philadelphia last month is still his solitary victory. He will make his first start since May 1 on Wednesday night after pitching out of the bullpen in his previous two outings.
His teammates had exploded offensively in the first two games of this series, despite just scoring two runs for him in that game. In Monday night’s 9-3 victory, Kyle Schwarber’s 300th career home run—a 466-foot blast that landed off the face of the third deck at Coors Field—was the high point.
“It’s a cool milestone,” Schwarber, 32, said after hitting another home run on Tuesday night. The most important point, in my opinion, is that there is still much more to come. I would have said, “Probably not,” if they had asked 12-year-old Kyle if he had hit 300 home runs. However, the game has always been really kind to me, even though I had no idea what it would store.
The pitcher facing the Phillies will be starting for the second time in his career.
In Friday’s 8-0 defeat to the Diamondbacks in Arizona, Palmquist, 24, made his major league debut by giving up five runs in four innings.
Despite his difficult start, Palmquist showed promise, according to Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer.
“I believed he was a competitor. “I think it was a solid first one for him, and I appreciate the poise,” Schaeffer said, “but that’s a lot to expect for your first major league game. “As isn’t often the case in a debut, he targeted the striking zone. He informed me that after the first inning, his legs ceased to shake, he calmed down, and he began to pump strikes. He will be in a better position the more he does it.
Palmquist is the fifth pitcher and sixth Colorado player to debut in the major leagues this season. With ten players aged 25 or under, the Rockies have adopted a complete youth movement, which has helped them get off to the worst start in the majors in recent memory (8–40).
Acquiring a shortstop The Rockies’ luck hasn’t altered since Ezequiel Tovar returned from a hip injury, but he has performed admirably at the plate and in the field. Since coming back on Friday, he has hit two home runs and is 8-for-17.
