Jesús Luzardo shoves and offense comes alive as Phillies capture win in series finale against Giants

The Philadelphia Phillies lost last night’s game in heartbreaking fashion on a walk-off three run inside-the-park home run by Patrick Bailey. The Phillies haven’t won a series in San Francisco since 2013 and after dropping the first two games of the series, that nagging trend would in fact continue.

The Phillies desperately needed to get a spark going to bounce back. They got just that, thanks to Jesús Luzardo, Bryce Harper and a seven-run eighth inning.

Luzardo, Seth Johnson, and Joe Ross combined to throw a shutout as the Phillies’ offense finished with 17 hits.

Luzardo last took the mound on the Fourth of July against the Cincinnati Reds. He went just two innings with six runs allowed as the Phils went on to lose that game 9-6. In his outing on Wednesday, Luzardo held the Giants to just three hits and gave up no runs while striking out seven.

J.T. Realmuto got the Phillies first run on the board with an RBI single to left field to score Alec Bohm from third in the second inning. 

An opposite field home run from Harper in the fourth inning extended the Phillies lead to two. It was Harper’s 10th home run of the season, and first since June 3.

Harper then put himself in scoring position in the sixth with a leadoff double to split the gap in left center field. He would advance to third on a wild pitch by Justin Verlander and come home on a single to left field by Nick Castellanos. 

Castellanos would steal second base during Max Kepler’s at-bat and advanced to third on a throwing error by Giants catcher Andrew Knizner. A sacrifice fly by Kepler would score Castellanos to give the Phillies the 4-0 lead.

The Phillies busted the game open in the eighth. The offensive exploded for seven runs and 12 batters came to the plate as the Phillies held an 11-run advantage.

Harper added two more doubles on the day in the eighth in what proved to be a successful outing for the Phillies star. He finished the afternoon going 4-for-6 with an RBI. It was the first time in his career he’s had four extra base hits in a game.

Kyle Schwarber also sent a three run home run to left field for his 29th of the year. This marks back-to-back games the All-Star reserve has gone yard.

With the game out of reach for San Francisco, the Giants sent outfielder Mike Yastrzemski to the mound to pitch the top of the ninth inning. Brandon Marsh and Edmundo Sosa would each tack on another run after grounding into force outs to put their team up 13-0.

The Phillies get the day off tomorrow as they travel to San Diego for the final series of the first half against the Padres beginning Friday. Ranger Suárez get the ball in game one.