Philadelphia came into Wednesday’s series finale looking to do something they haven’t had an opportunity to do since July began. Something they haven’t even been presented with an opportunity for, let alone accomplished, since mid-June. The Phillies were looking to sweep their opponent. The Red Sox sent one of their best to the mound in Lucas Giolito. Jesús Luzardo toed the rubber for Philly.
Each team had explosive innings, Bryson Stott showed off his new-dad strength, Bryce Harper continued an absolute torrid pace, and Luzardo continued to struggle once a runner reaches against him. Phillies were up big, then had to catch-up to force extra innings. Phillies used the home run to score their runs in regulation, Red Sox used a home run that wasn’t to take the lead for good in extras.
Notes and Quotes from an exciting, up-and-down 9-8 loss Wednesday night in South Philadelphia.
Luzardo’s stretching struggles
The Phillies starting pitcher looked electric to start the game. Through the first four innings, it seemed they were on pace to have three straight 10-strikeout games from their starters. Luzardo had a no-hitter with six punch outs through the first four innings. Masataka Yoshida led off the fifth with a double, and Ceddanne Rafaela walked on four straight pitches. Things were not looking good.
Luzardo actually managed to retire the next two Red Sox hitters on five total pitches. Then suddenly, he couldn’t find the zone. With two men on and two outs, the next four batters went Walk-Walk-Walk-Grand Slam. Ouch. In the first four frames, the left-hander threw 51 pitches, 35 of which were strikes – good for 68.6 percent. In the fifth? His strike percentage was just 40.5, throwing 22 of his 37 pitches out of the strike zone.
Still, despite the seeming loss of control, Luzardo pitched well enough to get out of the inning. Against the sixth batter, Rob Refsnyder, he induced a pop-up behind home plate – the only pitch that made it in the strike zone during that plate appearance. It should have been enough to escape. Unfortunately, the ball blended in with a sky in twilight, and J.T. Realmuto never saw it. A simple play made by the Phillies former Gold Glove catcher hundreds of times, unable to be made this night.
This is not Jesús’ first time struggling with runners on base this season. It seems to be his Achilles heel this year. The Phillies starter spoke to reporters after the game, including Lochlahn March from The Philadelphia Inquirer, about his attempts to fix his struggles with command out of the stretch that seemingly arose since making a mid-season adjustment to his hand placement.
“I didn’t want to necessarily go out of the windup and have the guy on second take a huge lead. I give up a knock, guy scores easily. That’s where my mind was at,” Luzardo said. “ … We just saw [Bryce] Harper steal home [Tuesday]. So that’s also a thought in my mind. And I have a lot of faith in myself out of the stretch. I understand that there’s been an issue, but I also believe in myself to make a pitch and get out of it, so I just need to be better, make the pitch.”
He said he’s gone “back to the drawing board” with the Phillies pitching staff to determine how to recapture his command and confidence with runners on base.
Some additional notes about Luzardo’s rough night:
- He is just the seventh player since 2020 to surrender four walks and a grand slam in the same inning
- He’s just the fourth Phillies player in history to have such an inning – first since Paul Byrd in 2000
- Luzardo only walked 4+ in a GAME one other time this season (6/17 @ Miami)
- He has walked 4+ in a game 12 times out of 126 career appearances, just under 10% of his games
- The left-hander has only walked three in an inning three times before – twice in 2021, once in 2022
Manager Rob Thomson said after the game that he intended to have reliever Jordan Romano ready in case the Red Sox made their way to Trevor Story‘s spot in the lineup in the fifth. Thomson admitted that he probably should have gotten him up earlier considering the loss of control his starter had shown – “that’s on me.” Thomson added they are still grinding through their attempts to fix Luzardo’s struggles. Philadelphia’s rotation is still one of the best in baseball, but to remain in the top spot they will need “The Lizard King” to figure things out soon.
Dad Strength
Bryson Stott‘s struggled this season at the plate, there’s no way around it. Last night, it was a surprise to see the second baseman’s name on the lineup card as he and his wife, Dru, announced the birth of their second child – a son – earlier in the day. Manager Rob Thomson joking told reporters pregame “I think the wife told him he had to play today,” but said Bryson wanted to play so he added him to the lineup with a later report time to the ballpark.
Recently, Rob Thomson mentioned that his second baseman has begun to make some mechanical adjustments in his swing to try and rebound from his tough first half in the batter’s box. Prior to Wednesday’s contest, the manager expanded on the changes:
“They changed something. He’s got a lot of movement in his hands, so they’re trying to quiet that down. He loses his barrel when he does that. So they’re trying to quiet down – just start on his shoulder, lift it up, get’s him ready to go… I think he feels good with that, and I think he’s making some progress.”
Whether it was the adjustments, the new baby, or a change in walk-up song – the progress was shown in droves last night. The first pitch Stott saw he drove down the right-field line for a double. His next AB, he drove a 1-0 slider into the stands in right for his seventh home run of the year. The man even stole third base before Boston’s pitcher even realized what was happening.
To match that production – A double, a HR, and a stolen base – you have to combine Stott’s previous 20 games! Wednesday was Stott’s first multi-hit game since June 27, his first multi-extra-base hit game since May 8, and the first time he’s had a game with multiple extra base hits and a stolen base since April 4, 2024 (2 HR and 1 SB @ San Diego). One of the best games of his career on one of the best days of a man’s life.
Harper’s major milestone
After reaching the 1.000 RBI milestone earlier in the season, Bryce Harper was close to another one – home run No. 350. He got there in electric fashion, absolutely mashing a pitch from Lucas Giolito in the first inning, a back-to-back shot with teammate Kyle Schwarber. It was the hardest and furthest he’s hit a ball this season.
Harper is batting .400 (16-for-40) with nine doubles, five home runs, eight RBIs and a 1.467 OPS in his past 10 games. He appears to not be hampered by the wrist injury at all, despite concerns they may have to be careful with it upon his return.
Bryce is the youngest active player to reach 350 HRs. He became just the tenth player in MLB history to reach 350 HRs, 1,000 RBIs, 1,000 runs and 1,000 walks before the age of 33, joining Jimmie Foxx, Albert Pujols, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig, Jim Thome, and Barry Bonds. That is Hall of Fame company.
In Conclusion
Despite the excitement in this edition of Notes and Quotes, the Phillies still dropped the finale against the Red Sox. They have the day off today while they travel up to New York for another tough series against the Yankees. They are back in second place by a half-game behind the New York Mets, with five straight series remaining against American League teams. It doesn’t get easier from here. If the offense can look like it did last night, and the coaching staff can figure out what is plaguing Luzardo, they should be just fine. If not, they could be in for a long summer slog.
Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
