Luzardo bounces back in big way as Phillies earn series win over Cubs originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
A temporary sigh of relief is in order.
Wednesday’s afternoon matinee against the Cubs ticked a few boxes the Phillies desperately needed:
•The club pulled out a 7-2 win, collecting a series win for the first time in 13 days.
•There was a pulse with the offense, who attacked Cubs’ starting pitcher Ben Brown early for a three-run first inning.
•Most importantly, this was the bounce back performance from Jesús Luzardo that everyone was hoping for, especially Luzardo.
“I don’t have an answer, but there’s no one working harder at finding an answer than me.”
Those were pitcher’s words in the Toronto clubhouse after his last outing. In his previous two starts, he gave up a combined 21 hits, 20 earned runs, five walks and struck out six with a whopping 31.76 ERA … and he didn’t even reach six total innings (5.2).
It quickly squashed the narrative that was gaining traction about his name in the early Cy Young conversations.
But perhaps we’ll look back at the end of the season and mark this performance against the Cubs as the reset game for him.
Let’s hope it is.
“I don’t think anyone else on the planet wanted (today’s outcome) more than I did,” Luzardo said after the win. His level of competitiveness never faltered and his ability to right the wrongs this quickly is a testament to him and the pitching staff.
Luzardo went six innings for 99 pitches, only allowed one run on five hits and punched out 10 in the process. It’s the fourth time this season he’s reached double-digit strikeouts and the 11th time in his career. Not allowing a single walk makes it all the more impressive.
“Obviously the last two (starts) have been extremely frustrating and just a bad stretch,” Luzardo said. “Being able to come back and just get the win with the team was huge. I think that was the biggest thing for me.
“Just getting back on track is huge and a sense of relief of understanding that the stuff is still there. I feel great physically … and the adjustments that we made obviously worked, so we’re happy about that.”
While Luzardo was righting the ship on the mound, the offense also had one of its better days in June, and it started right from the jump with three runs in the first inning.
Aside from Johan Rojas, everyone in the lineup collected at least one hit. Trea Turner had a multi-hit day, a walk and stolen base. Alec Bohm had a monster afternoon with two hits and four RBIs. Kyle Schwarber finally smashed his second home run in June. Otto Kemp now has four hits in his three games at Citizens Bank Park.
Bryce Harper not being in the lineup has been an obvious blow to the offense — but the production from this past week was never going to be the standard. And through all of this, Turner is hitting .303, Nick Castellanos .287 and Bohm has quietly crept up to .283.
“(Today) felt good,” Bohm said. “I think as a whole it’s not that we haven’t been getting hits or anything like that, I just think the big hit has been avoiding us. Whether it’s been good defensive plays or missing balls. It feels good today for some guys to get some big hits.”
Even with Thursday being an off day for the club, it feels like the momentum could be swinging back in their favor.
The Phillies got swept on the road and then took two-of-three from the Cubs … sound familiar? Well, it’s happened twice this season.
The last time, they followed it up by going 19-6 over the next 25 games. It’d be nice if history was able to repeat itself.
Midweek roster move
Prior to Wednesday’s game, the Phillies recalled pitcher Michael Mercado from AAA. Through 17 games Mercado is 2-0 with a 5.31 ERA. To make room for the right-handed pitcher, Carlos Hernández was designated for assignment.
“We needed the pitching and Mercado’s been throwing the ball well, he’s stretched out to four innings,” Rob Thomson said Wednesday.
“He’s got a good arm and he can really spin it. Just being able to attack the zone, really is the only thing that comes up with him. He’s been throwing the ball pretty well, I know his ERA over the course of the year is up there but lately he’s been really good.”
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