HOUSTON _ Taijuan Walker believed he could pitch through the constant ache in his right foot. It's there with every pitch thrown _ no matter how much treatment he does leading up each start to prevent it.
But at some point, the Mariners may have to wonder what is the net value of starting him when the results can be so unpredictable and the foot is still the underlying cause of his inconsistency.
Walker delivered another uneven and injury-shortened performance on Tuesday night in the Mariners' 5-2 loss to the Astros.
After a 7-2 homestand, Seattle has dropped the first two games of the trip to fall to 43-41.
Walker (4-7) took the loss, and was roughed up for all five of Houston's runs _ scored by three homers _ and was lifted after just four innings with more pain in his right foot.
Though there is nothing structurally wrong in the foot, the pain caused by posterior tibial tendinitis hasn't rescinded despite rest, a cortisone shot, taping and constant treatment. Since leaving his start in Tampa Bay early with pain in his foot, Walker has pitched more than five innings just once in his subsequent three starts.
Walker is scheduled to make one more start _ the Sunday before the All-Star break in Kansas City _ but the Mariners could decide to scratch him, hoping time off and rest during that extended period could alleviate some of the discomfort.
While Walker isn't supposedly causing any further damage to the foot despite throwing in pain, the bigger issue is his inability to get a strong push off the rubber and use his legs in his delivery to drive the baseball down in the strike zone. Instead, he leaves pitches up in the strike zone, while also using all arm _ neither of which are good things for this future, immediate and long term.
After being given a 1-0 lead in top of the second, Walker gave that run right back with two outs in the bottom of the inning. A changeup that stayed up in the zone to Luis Valbuena was crushed into the upper deck of right field for a solo homer to make it 1-1.
Walker was again given a one-run lead that he couldn't hold in the fourth inning. Nelson Cruz hit his 22nd homer of the season off Houston starter Dallas Keuchel, launching a solo shot off the stone wall above the fence in left-center to make it 2-1.
But in the bottom half the inning, Walker served up two more homers _ a two-run blast to Colby Rasmus on a first-pitch fastball and a solo homer to A.J. Reed on a 3-2 fastball, allowing the Astros to take a 5-2 lead.
The Mariners pulled Walker from the start after he finished the fourth inning. He had thrown 67 pitches (42 strikes).
Mike Montgomery provided a positive in the lost evening. The left-handed reliever pitched four shutout innings, allowing two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Keuchel (6-9) worked six innings, allowing the two runs on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
