Taijuan Walker, Phillies blank Orioles for third straight win

Taijuan Walker pitched six solid innings and Max Kepler hit a two-run homer as the host Philadelphia Phillies topped the Baltimore Orioles 5-0 on Tuesday.
Brandon Marsh also homered for Philadelphia, which has won three games in a row. Kepler and Marsh finished with two hits apiece for the hosts, as did Bryson Stott. The Phillies pounded out 10 hits in all.
Walker (4-5) allowed four hits without a walk and struck out four batters in lowering his ERA to 3.53. He worked around a hit in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings and battled through a hit batter in the sixth.
Baltimore managed only five singles — two by Jordan Westburg — in losing for the fifth time in six games. Dean Kremer (8-8) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings with six strikeouts and one walk.
The Phillies did the bulk of their damage in the second inning, when Nick Castellanos singled with one out against Kremer and Marsh followed with an RBI double.
The next batter was Kepler, who sent one over the fence in right-center field for his 12th homer of the season. The Phillies ended up loading the bases with two outs in the inning, but Kremer retired Bryce Harper on a fly ball to end the frame.
Kepler sparked another rally in the fourth, as his leadoff double was followed two batters later by Stott’s run-scoring triple to increase the score to 4-0.
Marsh’s solo homer against Yaramil Hiraldo in the eighth put an exclamation point on the victory.
After Walker exited, Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and Max Lazar each logged a scoreless frame with two strikeouts.
Philadelphia will go for a three-game sweep Wednesday as Ranger Suarez takes on Trevor Rogers in a battle of left-handers.