Jesus Luzardo's 12th start as a Phillie wasn't just his first dud, it was the worst outing of his career, a 17-7 loss to the Brewers that had Rhys Hoskins' fingerprints all over it.
Luzardo entered the day with the lowest home run rate in the National League and had not allowed more than three runs as a Phillie. Four batters into the game, the Brewers changed that with two singles and a walk before Hoskins extended his arms to blast a 97 mph fastball over the wall for a three-run bomb.
“Again starting off early putting us down in a hole, frustrating that it’s back-to-back starts,” Luzardo said. “Then kind of unraveled in the fourth. Just not being able to get back on track and give length to the team put the bullpen in a bad position and us in a hole.”
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SIGN UP HERE The fourth inning was the Phillies' ugliest of 2025 and included the first ejection of the season for manager Rob Thomson. It began with a ball bouncing out of Nick Castellanos' glove in right-center for a leadoff double. It was centerfielder Brandon Marsh's ball but Marsh pulled off it late despite not being called off by Castellanos.
“Marsh needs to call Casty off there,” Thomson said. “(Castellanos) did not call the ball. Marsh has to keep going, call the ball and call him off because he has priority.”
The next batter, Caleb Durbin, hit a dribbler to the right of the mound and Luzardo threw it low past first baseman Alec Bohm, an error that allowed a runner to come around to score. Then came back-to-back walks, consecutive singles and another three-run homer from Hoskins, whose six RBI matched his most in any game.
Luzardo allowed a career-high 12 runs on 12 hits and his ERA rose from 2.15 to 3.58 — from second-best in the majors to 23rd. No Phillies starter has given up more runs in a game since Al Jurisich in 1947.
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“When he didn’t execute, they hit the ball hard. When he did execute, the ball seemed to find a hole,” Thomson said. “You’re thinking the way he grinds, the way he battles and competes, that he’s gonna get out of it. And also want to save the bullpen.
“Statistics matter. You want your guys to have great years but at some points too, you’ve got to battle through things and do it for your teammates.”
The Phils have lost three in a row and dropped the series to the Brewers after ripping off 11 wins in 12 games. Their only other series loss since April 25 was in mid-May to the Cardinals.
Thomson's ejection came after Luzardo appeared to pick Durbin off of first base in the fourth. Following the initial call, third-base umpire Derek Thomas motioned that Luzardo balked and Durbin was awarded second base. Thomson ran out to argue, and beyond the balk itself, he and Luzardo took issue with it being called by the third-base umpire, not the home-plate or first-base umpires who have better vantage points of a lefty's pick-off move.
“The third-base umpire’s explanation to me was that at the top of his leg lift, he stopped,” Thomson said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that. My question was why didn’t the umpire at first base call it?”
Luzardo was peeved because it’s something he’s done for six years.
“That’s what I told him, that was my frustration, that I’ve done this since 2019 and never been called for a balk on it,” he said. “I think they did a great job of not throwing me out. In the heat of the moment, I was probably a little hot-headed. I just wanted an explanation as to what was the balk. I felt I gained ground even as I fell toward the plate, always kept my body moving even though it was slow.
“Basically, I got couple of different answers, saying that I stopped at the top of my delivery, which I didn’t. And the call coming from third base is what frustrated me the most. If it was the first-base umpire, I’d understand it a little more. But it is what it is. Not everyone’s perfect. But I think that frustration kind of caused me to unravel a little bit more as opposed to step back, cool myself and get back to it.”
Regression was going to hit Luzardo at some point. He began the day averaging more than 6.0 innings per start, by far a career-high. His most 100-pitch outings in any season is five and he'd done that in five of his last six starts entering the weekend. The Phillies have pushed him, and until Saturday, he'd passed every test.
They know they must strike a balance rest-of-season between riding Luzardo when he's effective and preserving his arm for October when it matters most. There are ways to do it — dialing him back by an inning, skipping a start at some point, going to a six-man rotation when Andrew Painter is ready.
The Phillies turn to Ranger Suarez on Sunday looking to avoid being swept at home for the first time since last July 29-31 vs. the Yankees. Suarez has pitched four straight gems, three of them scoreless starts of at least six innings. They'll need another.
“I told Zeus as soon as he steps off the mound, this one’s over,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “Same thing as a team. It’s obviously an embarrassing loss, you never want to lose like that. We’ve just got to flush it and move on to tomorrow.”