After the Phillies turned in a solid performance in the series opener against the Blue Jays, there was hope that the team had put the struggles of last weekend behind them. But after the offense no-showed on Wednesday night, on Thursday Jesus Luzardo turned in his second straight awful performance, the offense remained quiet, and the Phillies dropped the series finale 9-1.
Jesus Luzardo suffered through a horrendous start against the Brewers on Sunday, so there was some interest in how he would look on Thursday. And the answer was not reassuring to Phillies fans.
Luzardo gave up a leadoff single to Bo Bichette, but finished off the first inning without any more trouble. He was not so fortunate in the second. Myles Straw started things off with an RBI double, Tyler Heineman doubled him in, and then Bichette made it 4-0 with a blast to center field.
Things did not improve in the third. With one out, Luzardo allowed the next six batters to reach base. (To be fair, the final “hit” came when Trea Turner and Max Kepler both kind of moseyed towards a ball, and then Turner tried to make an over the shoulder catch.) That made the score 8-0 and ended Luzardo’s afternoon.
The bullpen mostly stabilized things the rest of the way, but the damage was already done, especially considering how poorly the lineup has been performing.
Maybe they were deflated by Luzardo’s awfulness, but they haven’t been hitting under any circumstances. After a six-run first inning on Tuesday, the Phillies have scored just four runs over the last 26 innings. Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt cruised through seven innings, the one blemish being a Kyle Schwarber RBI single in the seventh.
The Phillies aren’t in great shape right now, but I’m not that concerned about that. Teams will have weeks like this during a 162-game season. But their earlier success had largely been fueled by the starting rotation, so if there’s a serious problem with Luzardo, that could be a real problem. Hopefully, whatever ailing him isn’t physical, and he can figure out a way to reverse it over the next four days.