Luzardo taken back-to-back-to-back in second spring start originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Rob Thomson found himself in a bit of an awkward spot Wednesday afternoon.
The Phillies were on the road to play the Tigers in Lakeland with Jesus Luzardo on the mound after a short delay. Thomson, as managers often do during spring training, participated in an in-game interview with ESPN during the bottom of the second inning.
Unfortunately for Thomson and the Phillies, Luzardo loaded the bases in that second inning and gave up a grand slam, then two more solo shots. Detroit’s back-to-back-to-back home runs off of Luzardo came on three consecutive pitches.
Not a whole lot for the skipper to say in that moment.
Luzardo allowed six runs over two innings in his second start of the spring. On Tuesday, Zack Wheeler also gave up six runs over two innings in his second start of the spring. The Phillies aren’t about to sound any alarms – this is the time of year when pitchers are experimenting, tinkering, focusing on specific zones or goals within their starts.
The home runs Luzardo allowed came on an 88 mph, middle-middle changeup to Jahmai Jones, an 84 mph, middle-middle slider to Andy Ibañez and a 95 mph, middle-in sinker to Gleyber Torres.
It was a far cry from his first outing last week against the Red Sox when Luzardo pitched two perfect innings. But one important constant — more important than the results — has been his velocity, which is a sign of health. Luzardo averaged 95-96 mph with his four-seam fastball and sinker in both outings. The difference Wednesday was that he missed spots early in the count to hitters ready to attack.
The longball was an issue for Luzardo earlier in his career. He allowed 20 in just 95⅓ innings in 2021, nearly two homers per nine innings, but cut that rate in half from 2022-24.
Luzardo figures to start three more times during spring training. He’s lined up to start either Game 2 of the regular season at Nationals Park or Game 4 or 5 at home against the Rockies. Thomson wants to split up his right-handers (Wheeler and Aaron Nola), and among the lefties he wants to split up Cristopher Sanchez and Luzardo because they’re more similar to each other than they are to Ranger Suarez. The result will likely be Wheeler starting on Opening Day, either Sanchez or Luzardo in Game 2, Nola in Game 3 and then the other two lefties in some order.
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