Jesús Luzardo was a bright spot in Phillies’ Game 2 loss: ‘We just didn’t get it done for him’

Jesús Luzardo’s 2025 regular season could best be described as inconsistent. He had stretches where he looked unhittable and others where he looked vulnerable.

In his first 11 starts, Luzardo pitched to a 2.15 ERA with 77 strikeouts to just 19 walks, averaging seven innings a game.

In his 12th start, on May 31, he allowed 12 earned runs. The start after that, in Toronto on June 5, he allowed eight.

The Phillies said that pitch-tipping was at play, but even after those issues were seemingly fixed, the lefty wasn’t as dominant as he had been.

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But he was on Monday night. For six innings in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, Luzardo went toe-to-toe with Los Angeles Dodgers starter and two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell.

After a 24-pitch first inning, in which he conceded a single and a walk, the Phillies starter retired his next 17 batters.

Luzardo needed only 10 pitches to get through the second inning, eight to get through the third, 13 to get through the fourth, six to get through the fifth, and 11 to get through the sixth.

By the seventh inning, he’d given up just one hit (that single to Mookie Betts in the first) and one walk with five strikeouts.

Luzardo’s command — which has not always been a strength — was excellent. His game plan was, too. The lefty and catcher J.T. Realmuto deftly mixed his five pitches to keep the Dodgers guessing for most of the game.

“We were just getting ahead,” Luzardo said. “Filling up the zone. Me and J.T. had a pretty good mix of keeping guys off balance and using a good amount of off-speed and the fastball in certain counts. I think keeping them off balance was the key.”

But in the seventh, things began to unravel. Luzardo allowed back-to-back hits: a hard-hit single to Teoscar Hernández and a line drive double to Freddie Freeman.

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He exited the game after that, at 82 pitches. Orion Kerkering entered in relief and struck out Tommy Edman, but allowed Hernández to score on a fielder’s choice.

Kerkering walked his next batter, induced a pop up, and gave up a single to score Freeman, before departing for reliever Matt Strahm.

Luzardo’s final line looked far worse than he actually pitched: six innings, three hits, two earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts.

“I thought we did a good job of staying under control,” he said. “I think the first was a lengthy inning, but after we got out of that, it felt like it was pretty smooth.”

“Dynamite,” manager Rob Thomson added. “Seventy percent strikes. He was getting ahead. He was attacking. The slider was really good. The change-up was good. Fastball had a lot of life. Battling a little bit of a jam in the first inning, and then he rolled from there. He was fantastic.”

The Phillies, who lost 4-3 to the Dodgers on Monday night, didn’t give their starter any help. Like Luzardo, Snell also held his opponent to just one hit through six innings.

Snell allowed more walks than Luzardo did (four) but the Phillies were unable to capitalize on those mistakes.

Their best chance came in the sixth, when Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber worked back-to-back walks off Snell, putting runners on first and second with one out.

But Bryce Harper struck out, and Alec Bohm grounded into a force out to end the inning.

“I thought he threw great,” Harper said of Luzardo. “He’s been like that for us all year long. I thought he threw the ball really well, we just didn’t get it done for him.”

For some, Luzardo’s dominance made the loss sting just that much more.

“I would say any loss at this point is pretty frustrating,” said outfielder Brandon Marsh, “but especially with the way he did his thing out there tonight. He put us in a great spot to win. It definitely hurts a little bit more.”

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Shortstop Trea Turner argued that the same could be said of Cristopher Sánchez’s performance in Game 1.

“I guess every game you can look at as a missed opportunity if you don’t win,” Turner said. “This time of year, that’s all that matters.

“It doesn’t really matter who does what, or how good you did or how bad you did, it matters if you win or lose. And right now we’re not doing that.”

Now, the Phillies will hope that they can pull off a harrowing feat — two straight wins in Los Angeles — to get the ball back to Luzardo for Game 5 in Philadelphia.

And, if they do, they hope they’ll get the same dominant pitcher they had on Monday night.

“Just got to regroup and get ready to go in L.A.,” Marsh said. “Take two in L.A. One game at a time.”