Phillies’ Jesús Luzardo pleased with his velocity in five-strikeout start

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Jesús Luzardo made his first start of the spring on Thursday. He did not disappoint. The Phillies left-hander recorded five strikeouts with two hits in three scoreless innings in a 6-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.

Luzardo needed only 38 pitches for his Grapefruit League debut. His velocity ticked up a bit — he hit 98 and 97 mph a few times on his four-seam fastball and his sinker — while his sweeper averaged 87.2 mph.

“Maybe a little bit of adrenaline, getting back out there for my first spring start,” Luzardo said. “But just health. I feel good. Worked hard this offseason to really prepare for this year. Body is in a good spot.

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“So I’m glad to see the velocity coming, nice and easy, without having to overthrow.”

Luzardo said he took it easy earlier in the offseason, which was different from previous winters. He thinks giving his body a little break might have helped him.

“Normally I would start getting after it pretty early,” he said. “The season went a little long last year, so kind of started slow and progressively built up to the work that I wanted to.”

Otto Kemp went 2-for-3 with two hard-hit doubles. Leading into Thursday’s game, he only had two hits over his previous 16 at-bats.

“He’s swung the bat pretty good the last few times out,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s good to see. One of the games in Fort Myers [on Sunday and Monday], he’s going to play third base, and then he’s going to play left field.

“So, we’re going to move him around a little bit, but concentrate most on left field. But yeah, he’s been really having good at-bats.”

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Chase Shugart, who pitched the fifth inning and recorded the first out of the sixth, made a strong impression. The 29-year-old righty, who was traded from the Pirates to the Phillies in January, pitched 1⅓ innings, allowing no hits or runs, with two strikeouts.

“Really good,” Thomson said. “He throws strikes. He attacks. Fastball is mid-90s at times. Cutter is really good, the curveball is good. And he competes. He’s not afraid. He trusts his stuff.”

“Tremendous,” Thomson said of Luzardo’s outing. “Velocity was up. Think he touched 98. Got ahead, pounded the zone. First-pitch strikes were great. All of his pitches were working.

“Changeup is really improving, there’s some swing and miss to it, there’s some bottom to it. Everything about him was good.”

The Phillies will play the Pirates in Bradenton, Fla., on Friday at 1:05 p.m. The audio of the game will be livestreamed on MLB.com.