Mariners starter Taijuan Walker has been inconsistent in recent starts. After allowing an unearned run in seven innings on Monday, he gave up seven runs in three innings on Saturday.
"It's not going to happen overnight," manager Lloyd McClendon said Sunday, per MLB.com. "You see flashes of him being brilliant almost. Then you see the youngster in him. ... It's going to take time, but in the end, I think he's going to be pretty good."
"Going into that game, he had 69 career innings in the big leagues," McClendon said. "We're always in a hurry with young players, but they all struggle. I had an old skipper tell us, Barry Bonds had to have his first at-bat at some point. In his first year, he was hitting .166 in June and he turned out to be a pretty good player. The point is, you have to start somewhere. Along the way, he's not always going to look good. But in the end, he'll be a pretty good finished product."