Spencer Turnbull entered this season essentially as a placeholder in the Philadelphia Phillies’ starting rotation.
The 31-year-old right-hander was expected to fill in for a few starts while Taijuan Walker spent time on the injured list with right shoulder soreness.
But Turnbull (1-0, 0.00 ERA) has sparkled in Walker’s place. He has yet to surrender an earned run in two starts this season, racking up 13 strikeouts while walking one over 11 innings.
Turnbull will look to deliver another sharp outing on Saturday afternoon when Philadelphia hosts the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third contest of a four-game series.
“Hopefully (Walker) will be back soon, but in the meantime, I’ve been doing my best to hold down the fort and give our team the best chance to win,” Turnbull said.
Turnbull’s hot start to 2024 has come after he battled injuries throughout the last 2 1/2 years while with the Detroit Tigers.
He missed the last half of the 2021 season and all of 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery. A rough April with the Tigers last year sent Turnbull to the minor leagues, where he missed over three months with a neck injury.
After fizzling out with Detroit, Turnbull joined the Phillies on a one-year deal looking to insulate Philadelphia’s pitching staff with an extra layer of depth as a reliever. But after Walker landed on the injured list late in spring training, Turnbull was thrust into the rotation and has thrived in his new role.
“If he keeps putting up zeros, it’s tough to take him out of the rotation,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But we’ll see.”
Pittsburgh worked five walks and capitalized on two Philadelphia errors to even the teams’ four-game series with a 5-2 win on Friday. The Pirates managed nine hits, five of which came from the bottom three spots in the batting order.
No. 7 hitter Michael A. Taylor had one hit and Jared Triolo and Henry Davis each had a pair while batting eighth and ninth, respectively. Davis added two RBIs, and Connor Joe and Bryan Reynolds each drove in one.
Pittsburgh’s offense provided enough support for Pirates starter Bailey Falter, who pitched five innings of one-run ball to earn the win in his first outing against his former club.
Falter’s strong performance has embodied the key to Pittsburgh’s 10-4 start, its best record through 14 games since 2018.
“It starts with starting pitching and just the stabilization of that,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It’s one of the main components that’s allowed us to get off to a good start.”
David Bednar delivered a much-needed stress-free inning for Shelton’s squad to close out Friday’s win. After blowing three of his first four save opportunities this season, the two-time All-Star closer retired the Phillies in order in the ninth inning to even the series.
Left-hander Marco Gonzales (0-0, 2.45 ERA) will make his third start this season for Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Gonzales won his only career outing against the Phillies last April with the Seattle Mariners. He allowed one run on four hits and struck out two over five innings. The 32-year-old has surrendered three runs on nine hits while striking out six over 11 innings across his two starts this season.
Turnbull is 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA across three career starts against the Pirates. He struck out six while allowing one run on two hits over five innings in his most recent outing against Pittsburgh, in 2021.
