Phillies blank Padres as Jesús Luzardo battles back to toss six scoreless innings
It looked like it was shaping up to be a rough day for Luzardo, but he posted a quality start. Brandon Marsh also drilled a two-run homer and Jhoan Duran picked up his 100th career save in a 3-0 win.
SAN DIEGO — Jesús Luzardo pulled off his glasses and grinned.
He had capped six shutout innings against the Padres on Memorial Day with a flyout from former teammate Nick Castellanos. Off the bat, Luzardo thought the ball was gone, but it stayed in the ballpark and was playable for Justin Crawford in center.
“I made sure I texted him after,” Luzardo said. “I was like, ‘I thought you got me there.’”
It had been a battle for him from start to finish, but Luzardo kept on wriggling out of jams to hold San Diego off the scoreboard. He rebounded from a 27-pitch first inning to post a quality start in the Phillies’ 3-0 series-opening win over the Padres.
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The Phillies only mustered three hits total on Monday, but two of them left the yard. Kyle Schwarber gave the Phillies an early lead with a solo homer to right field. That was the only hit allowed by Padres starter Griffin Canning until the seventh inning, when Schwarber delivered again with a single.
Brandon Marsh then pounced on a slider for a two-run homer to add some insurance. He had been sitting on the pitch because he struck out on it in his previous at-bat.
“Last couple of days has been close games, grindy games,” Marsh said. “Feel like we definitely should have put up more in that Cleveland series. So coming out today and getting a little bit more of insurance is definitely helpful.”
The hardest-hit ball of the day came from Bryce Harper, a 108.6 mph, 399-foot blast in the eighth inning, but somehow it stayed in the ballpark for Jackson Merrill to make the catch at the center field wall.
It looked like it was shaping up to be a rough day for Luzardo in the first inning. The Padres had the bases loaded with no outs, courtesy of two singles and a fielding error from Trea Turner at shortstop.
Luzardo said he was “seeing a bit of red,” but then pitching coach Caleb Cotham came out for a mound visit. He told Luzardo not to worry about putting up a zero, but to instead focus on limiting the damage.
“Just make good pitches, and give up a run, give up two runs, whatever it is, it’s fine. You can fight your way out of that,” Luzardo said. “But when you give up six, that’s kind of a deeper hole to fight your way out of.”
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Luzardo did even better than that. He struck out Manny Machado and Merrill, and then induced a groundout from Castellanos to strand the bases loaded.
It was a moment that, earlier this season, might have spiraled out of control for Luzardo. But by taking some deep breaths and trying to slow the game down, he was able to battle back.
“That’s what the best athletes do,” Luzardo said. “I think in all different types of sports, you see the guys that can just manage their emotions and manage their — whatever you want to call it — their drive,” Luzardo said. “They can channel it, and use that emotion and channel it in the right way. And I think that slowly, that’s what we’re doing.”
It wasn’t the only time Luzardo worked around traffic on Monday, as he allowed the leadoff man aboard in each of the first three innings. But each time, he found a way out. Catcher Rafael Marchán helped Luzardo out in the second inning by catching a runner stealing, and the infield turned a double play in the third inning.
“He didn’t seem quite as sharp today with command, a lot of deep counts, but kind of just hung in there. He kept making pitches, and he made some big pitches for us,” said interim manager Don Mattingly.
Luzardo managed to finish six scoreless innings with 104 pitches. He allowed four hits, issued two walks, hit one batter, and struck out six.
“The easy outings are always fun, but when you have to really work for it, I think at the end of the day, it kind of makes you feel better about it,” Luzardo said.
The bullpen picked up the baton, with Orion Kerkering pitching a 1-2-3 seventh. Brad Keller sidestepped a leadoff walk to Fernando Tatís Jr. for a scoreless eighth.
Jhoan Duran pitched the ninth inning and picked up his 10th save of the season and 100th of his career.
“The runs are hard to come by right now, but that’ll change,” said Mattingly. “But until then, we keep getting this kind of pitching, we’re going to be able to hang in there.”
As the Phillies continue to seek more production out of the cleanup spot, Rhys Hoskins is coming back to town this weekend with the Cleveland Guardians. Hoskins sat down with "Phillies Extra," The Inquirer's baseball podcast, to discuss his role with the first-place Guardians, his legacy with the Phillies, and more. Watch here.
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