PHILADELPHIA – It was not sunny in Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. However, that did not stop Jesús Luzardo and the Phillies lineup from shining. In dominant fashion, Philadelphia put a bow on an impressive three-game sweep against the Seattle Mariners.
Luzardo, carved up the Mariners, racking up a season-high 12 strikeouts in six innings of work. The offense churned out 20 hits and exploded for eight runs in their final two inning, earning a convincing 11-2 win to complete the sweep.
“The most impressive part is it’s the back end of 13 days straight without a day off,” Manager Rob Thomson said postgame. “Our guys came out with a lot of energy and the whole series was good in every facet. Baserunning, pitching, defense, offense we had a really good things over the last three games.”
The southpaw’s outing continued the impressive string of consecutive dominant outings put together by the Phillies starting rotation in the three-game series after the news regarding ace Zack Wheeler being out for the foreseeable future as he recovers from the blood clot he had in his right shoulder.
“The news about Zack was hard for all of us. He’s a key piece for us and a leader. He’s a father, a husband and a son and that comes first,” Luzardo said postgame.
“For us as a rotation, I think the best thing is to keep going and prove we are a top of the line rotation. Everyone goes out there and tries to take care of their job, pitch deep into games and give the team a chance to win. That’s the most important part.”
Luzardo did just that. With his dozen punchouts, he combined with Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez to whiff 34 batters in the series. The lefty fell one strikeout shy of matching his career-high of 13 he set back on July 23, 2023 when he was with Miami.
The double-digit punchout performance also marked the 12th time in the 27-year-old’s career that he racked up 10 or more strikeouts, and already the fifth with the Phillies this season. He allowed only three hits and did not walk a batter.
“It’s like a competition with our rotation. I like that,” Thomson said.
Luzardo’s lone blemish was a two-out solo home run from Julio Rodriguez, who somehow got to a 1-2 slider that was darting towards the dirt. It was Rodriguez’s 25th homer of the season.
Offensively, the Phillies continued their relentless attack against Seattle pitching. In the three-game set Philadelphia amassed 48 total hits, including a pair of 20 hit games on Monday and Wednesday.
Trea Turner set the tone at the plate, leading off the bottom of the first inning with a triple, extending his hitting streak to 10 games as part of his five-hit day, his first since 2020. Kyle Schwarber drove him in on a sacrifice fly for one of his five RBIs, giving the National League MVP candidate a new career-high of 109 RBIs with 35 games left in the regular season.
Bryson Stott doubled to the gap in right centerfield to plate Harrison Bader, giving the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the second inning. It was one of three hits on the day for the second basemen who is hitting .372 with a 1.043 OPS over his last 15 games.
“There was a mechanical change and ever since he’s (Stott) done that he’s been really good,” Thomson said. “If you can get that guy at the end of your lineup get hot, that’s really good. He turns over the lineup.”
In the fourth inning, Max Kepler hit a low liner over the right field wall at 108 mph off the bat to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead. Kepler, who has struggled all season, has turned it around since his big game on August 5 against Baltimore, where he went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run. Since that game, he is hitting .385 after a three-hit day on Wednesday.
As part of an outfield rotation that Rob Thomson described he plans to implement moving forward, Kepler along with fellow starting outfielders in Bader and Brandon Marsh went a combined 6-for-13 with five runs scored.
The hits just kept coming.
In the seventh, the Phillies sent 10 men to the plate, breaking the game open with RBI singles from Stott, Turner, Schwarber and Harper. In the eighth inning, Schwarber cranked his 45th homer of the season for the team’s 20th hit of the game.
The quartet of Stott, Turner, Schwarber and Harper combined to drive in 10 of the team’s 11 runs, while it was the second time in three games all nine starters in the lineup had at least a hit.
“I know who they are. they grind and are resilient. They fight. The “Wheels” news is awful and I feel for him and his family. But they aren’t going to cancel games on us. We have to keep playing,” Thomson said.
*Player quotes courtesy of Phillies Postgame Live
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
