Jesús Luzardo clapped the pocket of his glove and pumped his fist. Then, as a sold-out ballpark erupted all around him, he walked off the mound and clapped his mitt three more times.
On the fourth night in April, it sure did look like October.
Luzardo has heard Citizens Bank Park get louder than this. He was just never on the receiving end of the roar. But Friday night, in his home debut for the Phillies, he earned every ounce of adulation.
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How’s this for a first impression: Seven scoreless innings to beat back the defending World Series champions, who were undefeated through eight games.
The Phillies’ series-opening 3-2 victory over the Dodgers —witnessed before 43,024 customers, including Luzardo’s parents — featured several notable moments. Among them:
- Trea Turner scored a first-inning run by stealing third base and coming home on a throwing error by Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
- J.T. Realmuto cut down Shohei Ohtani at second base on a steal attempt to end the eighth inning and ended the game by throwing out Chris Taylor at second, a play that was reviewed and overturned.
- Once again, reliever Jordan Romano lacked the usual zip on his fastball and gave up a two-run homer to Tommy Edman on a slider in the ninth inning to turn a three-run lead into a cuticle-chomper.
But this was all about Luzardo, who followed an impressive first start for the Phillies last Saturday in Washington with an even better one against the best team in the sport.
Luzardo’s fastball crackled through the zone, touching 98 mph and sitting 97. But each of his eight strikeouts came on offspeed pitches: changeup (four), slider (three), and sweeper (one), a pitch that he picked up after getting traded to the Phillies in December.
In fairness, Luzardo also benefited from the elements. With the wind blowing in from right field, Ohtani crushed balls to left and center — exit velocities: 100.5 and 110.1 mph — and settled for flyouts.
But with the Phillies clutching a 1-0 lead, Luzardo retired 13 batters in a row at one point. And after walking Andy Pages with one out in the sixth, he calmly struck out Ohtani on a dirt-diving changeup.
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Luzardo’s biggest moment, though, the one that brought the crowd to its feet, came in the seventh inning.
The Dodgers threatened the lead with a two-out double by Teoscar Hernández and a Will Smith walk. As Luzardo’s pitch count climbed above 90, Enrique Hernández stepped to the plate and fouled off back-to-back 97-mph heaters with two strikes.
Luzardo went for the strikeout on a changeup in the dirt, but Enrique Hernández laid off. With the count full, Luzardo got him to chase a slider at his feet for strike three.
It was the latest in a string of strong starts by the Phillies’ rotation, the team’s strongest group. Through seven games, the rotation has allowed 10 earned runs in 41⅔ innings for a 2.16 ERA.
The Phillies were facing Yamamoto for the first time since trying hard to sign him out of Japan two years ago.
In December 2023, seven team officials flew to Southern California to make a presentation that featured a video-recorded recruiting pitch from Harper. The Phillies offered $300 million, with escalators that would have pushed the deal over the Dodgers’ $325 million winning bid.
But they also knew where they stood a few days later when Yamamoto visited the East Coast to meet with the Mets and Yankees but declined the Phillies’ invitation to come to Philadelphia.
More than anything, Yamamoto, like many Japanese stars, wanted to play for the Dodgers and won a World Series in his first season with them.
And in his first start at Citizens Bank Park, Yamamoto showed what the fuss was about by holding the Phillies to three hits in six innings.
But if the Phillies had succeeded in landing Yamamoto, maybe they wouldn’t have traded for Luzardo.
It’s been two starts, but they’ll take that tradeoff.
