Phillies’ Taijuan Walker leans on his slider and blanks Braves for five innings

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Taijuan Walker returned from the World Baseball Classic and got right back to work on his slider.

Walker threw 3⅓ scoreless innings in Mexico’s win against Great Britain on March 8 and returned to Clearwater last week after his team’s elimination at the hands of Italy and Aaron Nola. Out of 60 pitches in that appearance, he threw only eight sliders. Instead, he leaned more on his typical weapons of sinker and cutter.

But in his start Sunday in the Phillies’ 1-0 loss to Atlanta, Walker threw sliders 25% of the time. His goal is to turn it into more of a swing-and-miss pitch to right-handed hitters.

“I feel like to righties it’s mostly cutter, splitter, and I think a lot of teams know that,” he said. “So just adding that pitch that goes away from them, instead of coming in, has kind of been a big weapon for me.”

Walker pitched five scoreless innings against the Braves, holding them to three hits. He struck out three and walked two.

His slider has dropped about three miles per hour in velocity from its 83.6 mph average last season, but it has added two inches of horizontal break. He focuses on having a flatter wrist when he throws it.

“It’s a little different. I’m thinking more curveball on it, but not all the way,” Walker said. “So it catches a sweeper sometimes. Sometimes it’ll be a little tighter.”

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Walker had a positive experience at the WBC in his second time participating in the tournament for Mexico. He was impressed by the performance of Phillies prospect Dante Nori on Italy. Nori has a .438 batting average and a 1.349 OPS in five games and has helped Italy advance to the semifinal round.

“That tournament is so much fun,” Walker said. “I would do it every single time if I could. The atmosphere is crazy. And watching our guys dominate, too.”

Garrett Stubbs entered Sunday’s game in the sixth inning, playing left field. The Phillies have discussed getting Stubbs reps at infield and outfield positions this spring to help increase his versatility beyond his usual catcher position. He did not have a chance to make a play.

Who stood out: Bryson Stott had a pair of singles. Outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and catcher Rafael Marchán also singled, while Marchán finished 2-for-2 on automated ball-strike challenges behind the plate.

Stott also helped save a run in the third inning. With two outs and a runner on third, he backhanded a ground ball up the middle and turned and made the throw on one hop to first baseman Otto Kemp.

On the mound: José Alvarado, Jhoan Duran, Jonathan Hernández, and Génesis Cabrera each pitched an inning in relief. The Braves scored their only run on a solo homer off Cabrera in the ninth inning.

Alvarado retired the side in order and topped out at 99.8 mph with his sinker.

Duran continued to work on his new splitter, inducing a groundout to end the top of the seventh inning with the pitch. He touched 100.5 mph with his fastball and allowed one hit.

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Quotable: “Didn’t have a play. That’s usually what happens, you know?” manager Rob Thomson said of Stubbs’ appearance in the outfield. “But yeah, he’s played the infield before, so he’s got a lot of value there.”

On deck: The Phillies head to Lakeland, Fla., on Monday to face the Tigers (1:05 p.m., PHI audio).

J.T. Realmuto has not appeared in a Grapefruit League game since Tuesday and has been dealing with illness. The catcher was back at camp on Sunday and is feeling better, Thomson said. He will work out again Monday and could be back the lineup on Tuesday. ... The Phillies optioned Nolan Hoffman to Lehigh Valley on Sunday and reassigned Andrew Walling and José Rodriguez to minor league camp.