Phillies' Spencer Turnbull: Making first start Tuesday

Turnbull secured a spot in the Phillies' Opening Day rotation and is scheduled to make his first start Tuesday versus the Reds in Philadelphia, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports.

Turnbull entered spring training on the outside looking in for a rotation spot and was more realistically competing for a long-relief role with the Phillies, but a starting role opened up after Taijuan Walker suffered a shoulder injury last weekend that resulted in him being placed on the 15-day injured list. Though he was lit up to the tune of a 7.26 ERA and 1.68 WHIP in seven starts at the big-league level with the Tigers last season in his first year back from Tommy John surgery, Turnbull owns much more palatable ratios (4.55 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 12.3 K-BB%) over his 302.1 career innings in the majors. The Phillies are hoping that with the elbow procedure further in the rear-view mirror, Turnbull can give the team some quality outings at the back end of the rotation before Walker is ready to return from the IL.