Taijuan Walker couldn't help but throw his hands up in disbelief when he saw manager Luis Rojas emerge from the dugout to make a change after Walker had thrown just 74 pitches.
"What are you doing?" Walker could be seen saying as Rojas signaled to the bullpen.
Walker had made one mistake all night as the Mets held onto a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh, but an error and a bloop single had put two runners on with nobody out, and Rojas, desperate to secure a much-needed win, wasted no time in going to the lefty Aaron Loup to face the lefty Brandon Crawford.
"I was pretty surprised," Walker said. "Thought I was throwing the ball well today. Got a ground ball and a pop up and things just didn't fall my way right there, but I still felt good and confident in my pitches, and felt like I was still a ground ball away from getting a double play with Crawford coming up…it is what it is. There's nothing I can really do about it, just keep going out there every fifth day and pitching."
The move backfired almost instantly, as Crawford sent Loup's first pitch into right field for a two-run double, proving to be the game-winning hit in a 3-2 win for the Giants, who will go for the sweep on Thursday.
"It didn't work," Rojas said of the decision to pull Walker. "At that point we just have to get out of the inning and minimize the damage…we can call it aggressive because the way Walker was pitching. He didn't deserve to be out of the game, but the back-to-back plays led to that decision."
Those back-to-back plays were hardly a product of Walker losing steam, as an error and soft contact led to San Francisco's rally, but Rojas was ready to go to the lefty-on-lefty matchup in a tight spot, and would have stuck with Walker if Crawford came up with one or no runners on, but with two aboard and a runner in scoring position, he decided to go with his best southpaw reliever.
"Starting the inning, we had Loup up just in case anything crazy happened," Rojas said. "He was throwing a really good game…but the two plays dictated the decision, basically. Two on, nobody out, Brandon Crawford at the plate who is basically their best hitter, and we have probably one of the best lefties in the league in Aaron Loup…we went with the matchup.
"We know how Walker is throwing the ball…he's at 74 pitches, it's the third time through the lineup, and Brandon Crawford is their best hitter. It's his third time seeing walker. We take that seriously, even though Walker is throwing the ball well."
Walker was visibly upset in the moment but remained even-keeled when discussing the seventh inning after the game, though he made it clear that he felt like he could have continued on and escaped the inning unscathed.
"Being a competitor, I want to stay in that game and be in that moment, but it is what it is," Walker said. "It's just one of those things in the moment. It's over with, and it's time to move on."
Walker's exit represents a consistent debate in baseball about early hooks, one that was front and center when Rays manager Kevin Cash took out Blake Snell in the sixth inning of game six in last year's World Series. It's a battle the starting pitchers rarely ever win when pleading their case to stay in the game, and for Walker, it wasn't a case he felt he needed to continue to voice after the fact.
"There's nothing to have a conversation about," Walker said. "I'm a competitor and competing there in the moment, but it's not my call to make. I show emotions. It is what it is."
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