Jesús Luzardo unravels in 3rd inning, offense misses opportunities in Phillies’ loss to Reds
It took Jesús Luzardo 14 pitches to get through the first four batters of his start on Friday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park against the Reds, the site of an eventual 9-6 loss by the Phillies. The second, third and fourth hitters Luzardo faced — Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz and Austin Hays — all struck out swinging.
It was a strong start for the Phillies’ starting pitcher. His finish was much less than that.
44 pitches after setting Hays down on three pitches to start the top of the second inning, Luzardo hit the showers. He was pulled in the top of the third by manager Rob Thomson after not recording an out in the frame. Luzardo’s command wavered in the second and third innings, walking a pair of batters in the former and another in the latter. His final line included six runs (five earned) and six hits.
A bunt single by TJ Friedl started a five-run top of the third for the Reds. Luzardo then walked McLain, and the free pass was followed by three straight run-scoring knocks — a single by De La Cruz, a double by Hays and a double by Spencer Steer. Luzardo was pulled, his team trailing 5-3, following a single by Tyler Stephenson.
Joe Ross replaced Luzardo. Ross allowed three more runs in 2 2/3 innings.
The starting lineup put together by Thomson, which was filled with seven right-handed hitters to face Cincinnati southpaw Andrew Abbott, spotted Luzardo a three-run cushion in the bottom of the first. Alec Bohm drove in Trea Turner on a sacrifice fly to left field. Nick Castellanos did even better than that, hitting a two-run homer to left one batter later.
What followed for the Phillies’ offense was missed opportunities. They loaded the bases in the bottom of the third, but scored just a run on a ground out by Castellanos. An inning later, they fell victim to an inning-ending 1-6-2 double play. The rare feat was aided by bad baserunning by Edmundo Sosa, who froze a few feet down the third-base line after Kyle Schwarber dribbled a ball back to the pitcher’s mound. Sosa would break for home after De La Cruz received the throw from pitcher Sam Moll. De La Cruz fired home to finish off the two-out play.
Thomson signaled that he wanted to challenge the out call at home on the play; Sosa may have gotten his hand in to score. But it was deemed that Thomson took too long to call for the challenge, so a replay review never took place.
Later in the ballgame, Bohm came to the plate with the bases loaded and his team down by three. Bohm fought his way into a 2-2 count and was called out on strikes on the sixth pitch of his at-bat. The pitch caught the outside corner, but Bohm didn’t think so. The third baseman threw his bat in frustration, a good representation of the day the Phillies, now a 51-37 club, had on the mound and at the dish.