Turnbull to start acceleration; Walker could return Tuesday

Turnbull to start acceleration; Walker could return Tuesday originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES — Six weeks after a final strain, Spencer Turnbull will be back to normal this week, while Taijuan Walker could be back with the Phillies as early as Tuesday.

Weather delayed Walker’s second rehab start by a day, which took him out of consideration for returning to the Phillies’ rotation this weekend in Arizona, but he was on a roll Wednesday afternoon with Double A Reading in Akron and allowed one run in five innings.

Walker threw 60 pitches. He could return to the Phillies as early as Tuesday against the Marlins to start a six-game homestand.

Walker’s velocity topped 90 mph in his first rehab start, a crucial sign for a pitcher whose fastball average dropped from 93 last season to 90-91 this season.

“I hope he can maintain that because if he’s 93 and the split was really good… that’s a good sign,” manager Rob Thomson said earlier this week.

Walker was initially in line to start Sunday at Arizona in the final game of the Phillies’ West Coast trip, but the Lehigh Valley game was interrupted by rain. The Phillies quickly figured out a contingency plan to send him somewhere dry. If he starts Tuesday at home, he will have five days of rest.

These are the Phillies pitching matchups for the rest of the week:

Wednesday at the Dodgers: Tyler Phillips x Gavin Stone

Thursday at Diamondbacks: LHP Kolby Allard vs.

Friday at the Diamondbacks: Zack Wheeler x Ryne Nelson

Saturday at Diamondbacks: Aaron Nola x Zac Gallen

Sunday at Diamondbacks: LHP Christopher Sanchez vs.

Turnbull accelerating

The Phillies placed Turnbull on the injured list on June 27 with a right back strain and expected him to miss 6 to 8 weeks. Thursday will be the six week mark.

Turnbull has been working in Clearwater and is expected to return to normal this week, Thomson said.

The Phillies will bring him back as a reliever. There simply isn’t enough time to stretch it out to begin with.

“It’s going to be tough at this point. We’re going to stretch him out as much as we can, but it would be hard to get him to 100 pitches,” Thomson said.

Turnbull has a 2.65 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP with 58 strikeouts in 54⅓ innings this season. He pitched to a 1.78 ERA as a starter and a 4.26 ERA in 19 relief appearances, finding a groove just before the injury by allowing one run in 8⅔ innings.

“He started to slow down his routine and his process,” Thomson said. “This is a big deal for these guys because he’s been a starter his whole life and now he has to figure out when should I play, when should I start, how long do I need, and if I get up and need to stop and have to wake up later in the day game and I had Tommy John (surgery). All these things go through his head, so it’s hard for some guys.

“I think he would be very comfortable because he understands that we don’t have much time here. still in the rotation and I said, you know, there’s a lot of value in a guy that teams know can start and out of the bullpen.”