Jesús Luzardo rebound gives way to epic Phillies comeback

PHILADELPHIA – Jesús Luzardo doesn’t recall ever throwing seven perfect innings in a game. 

It didn’t look possible after the mess he found himself in after the first inning. The Phillies, looking for a sweep over the Mets, were down 4-0. Luzardo fell behind. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto stole second and third. Starling Marte drove home two. New York threatened for more with a runner on second and one out. 

Luzardo caught a break. Literally. Jeff McNeil hit a sharp comebacker on a middle-middle fastball to the mound that Luzardo quickly snared. The lefty turned and quickly fired a strike to Edmundo Sosa covering second base to catch Marte off the base for the double play. 

Marte turned out to be the last baserunner of the night. Luzardo locked in and gave the Phillies seven dominant innings in an eventual 6-4 Phillies comeback win that all but evaporated any hope the Mets had at winning the NL East. The Phillies’ lead over New York is now at 11 with 15 to play.

After a spanking at the hands of the Phillies over four games, the Mets are left wondering if they are in real danger of missing the postseason. 

They have Luzardo to thank for that. He took advantage of a desperate team and induced early outs. He did not have a single three-ball count during the entire game. After finishing the first with his pitch count at 23, Luzardo needed only 74 more to get through eight. 

“Just use their aggression against them,” Luzardo said. 

Harrison Bader, who drove in the winning run in the fifth, liked what he saw out of Luzardo from his vantage point. 

“I faced him a lot and I’m happy I’m on this side and playing behind,” Bader said. “Just watching his stuff from center field, I had a really good view of how it was moving, the zones he was attacking. … I think that propelled us moving forward, knowing that he was feeling himself out there.” 

His fastball velocity increasing later in the game has to be an encouraging sign for the Phillies, who wondered how he would hold up over a full season. Luzardo made only 12 starts last season in Miami due to an early-season elbow injury and a season-ending lumbar stress reaction. Health has been on Luzardo’s side. 

He came into the game having thrown five pitches over 99 mph this year. He touched 99 mph three times on Thursday. Two of those pitches, both balls, came in the seventh and eighth innings. 

“I feel like early in the year, I wasn’t getting that unless it was in the first or second,” Luzardo said. “Now, my body is adjusting to the point where I can get it in the seventh and eighth inning.” 

Nobody is questioning how much Luzardo has left in the tank. 

“The arm feels good,” Luzardo said. “I feel like my stuff and my velocity is probably the best it’s been all year. Thankfully, it’s a tribute to the work we put in and the training staff and the strength staff. We really managed a lot of the workload and I feel really good.”