Taijuan Walker goes eight strong in Diamondbacks' victory

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Taijuan Walker allowed only two runs over eight innings, striking out 11 in a 6-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday.

What It Means:

Walker has been great through five starts in 2017, sporting a 3.94 ERA, 3.13 SIERA, 26.4 percent strikeout rate, 5.6 percent walk rate and 1.15 WHIP across 29 2/3 innings.

numberFire's models do expect Walker's production to slow down a bit, projecting him for a 4.25 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 19.13 percent strikeout rate over 133 innings over the remainder of the season.