Luzardo (10 K's) emerging as a workhorse for Phillies

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Jesús Luzardo pumped his left arm once, then again. After getting the Athletics’ Miguel Andujar to flail weakly at a 97 mph fastball to end the bottom of the seventh inning, Luzardo made his way off the mound with some serious emotion, spinning in a slow 360-degree arc and yelling in exultation.

Luzardo was fired up -- and for good reason. While his seven-inning, 10-strikeout showing Sunday afternoon in the Phillies’ 5-4 loss at Sutter Health Park didn’t resemble some of Luzardo’s dominant performances in 2025, it just might have been one of the most significant games in the pitcher’s career.

The left-hander displayed resilience the Phillies were very happy to see, bouncing back from a rocky first inning to once again pitch deep into a ballgame on a day when a tired bullpen was happy for the respite.

“I wanted to go out there and give them length,” Luzardo said. “We made it work all the way through the seventh. For me, it was just a big moment.”

Luzardo’s exhilaration after his 105th and final pitch of the afternoon in West Sacramento would have been surprising, given his first pitch of the day. A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson jumped on Luzardo’s initial offering for a leadoff home run to left-center field. Logan Davidson had a two-run double later in the first inning.

In the past, an opening frame like that would have been Luzardo’s undoing. Reliever Matt Strahm said he remembered times before the Phillies acquired Luzardo via trade this offseason where the lefty starter would “unravel” if things went bad early. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth Sunday.

Luzardo only got stronger as the ballgame wore on, saving his best for his final three innings of work and recording double-digit strikeouts in consecutive games within a season for the first time in his career.

“I think that just shows how much he’s grown as a pitcher in his game,” Strahm said.

Luzardo has a 2.15 ERA in 67 innings this season. With the final punchout of Andujar, he surpassed his innings total from an injury-riddled 2024 (66 2/3). The Phillies haven’t had to worry about Luzardo’s effectiveness in 2025, but his workload could be an issue.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson has acknowledged as much, trying to find opportunities to limit Luzardo’s innings when the time is right. That apparently wasn’t Sunday, when Luzardo threw 86 pitches in six innings and trotted right back out to the mound for the seventh. He completed seven innings for the fourth time in 11 starts in 2025 after doing so just 10 times in 89 career starts before the trade to Philadelphia.

Thomson credited his club’s training staff for keeping Luzardo fresh and able to pitch deep into games all season -- a sentiment the lefty echoed.

“They do such a good job of managing workload and finding ways to really recover in between outings, and I think that’s huge -- something that in the past in my career maybe I didn’t take as seriously, the recovery aspect of it,” Luzardo said. “Almost taking a step back -- not doing more, doing less and letting your body really bounce back. All you need is to be ready for the fifth day.”

Often, that’s been the sixth day. Luzardo’s five most recent starts prior to Sunday were all on five days of rest, thanks to off-days and rotation reshuffling. But his outing against the A’s came on four days’ rest. Luzardo said it “will be nice” to get five rest days once again before his next scheduled start Saturday against the Brewers at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies have options, of course. If Luzardo can’t approximate his career-high innings total of 178 2/3 (with the Marlins in 2023), Philadelphia has several choices for its rotation. Top prospect Andrew Painter’s arrival in the big leagues should be soon, while Mick Abel followed up his sensational Major League debut with six innings of one-run ball on Saturday in Triple-A.

Of course, the Phillies will cross that bridge when they get to it. Not only did Luzardo prove his fortitude Sunday, but he said he expects to be able to go similarly deep into games all year with no restrictions. That can change in a moment, of course, but Luzardo is in a good spot.

“I feel good now,” he said. “I know we’re getting into June, so it’s a long season, but I feel great right now.”