Jesus Luzardo dominates the Reds, Phillies take series in Cincinnati
Jesus Luzardo threw seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts on Thursday at Great American Ball Park in a 1-0 win over the Reds that clinched the series and continued the most dominant stretch of pitching by any Phillie not named Cristopher Sanchez or Zack Wheeler this season.
The newly named first-time All-Star has been so locked in over his last six starts that finding a starting pitcher anywhere in baseball who is pitching better right now is genuinely difficult. A 1.45 ERA across his last six outings with a 13.5 strikeouts-per-nine rate that leads the National League over that span and a 1.38 ERA on the road that is the second lowest in the sport, and the Phillies’ southpaw took the mound Thursday and delivered exactly what the team needed after Wednesday’s 11-5 loss.
Jesus Luzardo completely shut down a Reds lineup that had hit four homers the night before and making them look completely overmatched for seven innings while the sweeper did things to Cincinnati hitters that should probably be classified as cruel and unusual punishment.
Eight of Jesus Luzardo’s 11 strikeouts came on the sweeper because the pitch has been virtually unhittable lately after he spent the early part of the season searching for the right feel and finally found it through a wrist positioning tweak suggested by pitching coaches Caleb Cotham and Mark Lowy.
Jesus Luzardo MASTERCLASS
Thirty of his 45 strikeouts over the last five starts have come on the sweeper, which means two-thirds of his total punchouts during the hottest stretch of his career are being generated by a single pitch that he didn’t even start throwing until joining the Phillies in 2025 and has developed into one of the most devastating weapons in the National League in less than two full seasons.
What made Thursday’s outing particularly impressive was the way Luzardo set up the sweeper by getting ahead in counts with his other pitches, going five-for-seven on first-pitch strikes with his four-seamer, three-for-four with his changeup, and three-for-six with his sinker so that when the sweeper came late in counts the Reds hitters were already behind and chasing rather than sitting on the breaking ball and looking for it.
Mattingly saw Cincinnati trying to jump Luzardo early in at-bats and the lefty kept winning those battles anyway because the fastball command was sharp enough to establish the zone before the sweeper buried hitters with the kind of horizontal movement that makes professional hitters look like they’ve never held a bat before.
Derek Hill Speed Demon
Brady Singer was almost as dominant as Luzardo on Thursday, throwing 10 pitches or fewer in each of his first five innings and cruising through seven scoreless before the Phillies finally scratched across the only run of the game in the eighth inning through the kind of speed-and-contact manufacturing that the bottom of the order has been providing all season in a way that separates this Phillies roster from the power-dependent lineups of years past.
Rincones got hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth and Mattingly immediately called on Hill to pinch run because that’s exactly the kind of situation the Phillies acquired Hill for, which is to use his elite speed as a weapon in close games where one run is the difference between winning and losing.
Realmuto chopped one to short and Hill’s speed getting to second forced De La Cruz to take the out at first instead of turning the double play that would have killed the rally, and then Crawford bounced a sinker through the right side to score Hill from second because the rookie has been hitting .333 over his last 30 games in 87 at-bats and keeps delivering in moments where the Phillies need a hit from the bottom of the order.
Stay Hot, Justin Crawford
The entire sequence was built on speed and execution rather than power because Hill’s legs turning a potential double play into a force at first and then scoring from second on a single through the right side is the kind of small-ball manufacturing that wins 1-0 games in July against good pitching, and Mattingly’s decision to insert Hill as a pinch runner was the chess move that made all of it possible.
The Phillies didn’t need a homer or a double or a bases-clearing hit to win the game because Hill’s speed and Crawford’s bat-to-ball ability combined to produce one run that was all Luzardo and the bullpen needed to close it out.
Phillies Top 3 in the Rotation are ROLLIN’
The Phillies are 25-8 in starts made by Wheeler or Sanchez this season and 12-6 in Luzardo’s starts while all other starters are a combined 14-28, which tells you everything about the gap between the top three and everyone else on the staff and why the Phillies’ entire season is built on the foundation of those three arms performing at an elite level every time they take the ball.
Wheeler struck out a career-high 14 on Tuesday with a 2.28 ERA that should have earned him an All-Star selection. Sanchez had the blowup in Kansas City on Monday but still carries a body of work that includes a 50 2/3-inning scoreless streak and a 2.62 ERA that makes him one of the best left-handers in baseball. And Luzardo has been the best of all three over the last six starts with a 1.45 ERA and a strikeout rate that leads the National League.
If all three are doing this come October, the Phillies’ rotation ceiling is as high as any team in baseball because a postseason rotation of Sanchez, Wheeler, and Luzardo gives you three aces who can each dominate a game on their own and the only question is whether the offense and the bullpen can provide enough support around them to win the seven or eight series games it takes to reach the World Series.
Thursday’s 1-0 win was a glimpse of what that ceiling looks like because Luzardo threw seven scoreless with 11 strikeouts, Bowlan handled the eighth while continuing to settle into a more meaningful late-game role that Mattingly noted has been especially strong against left-handed hitters, and Duran closed out the ninth after allowing the first two hitters to reach by escaping the jam and sealing the win with the kind of composure that first-time All-Star closers are supposed to show in tight games on the road.
Handing the ball from Luzardo to Bowlan to Duran and locking down a 1-0 game against a lineup that hit four homers the night before is the kind of pitching relay that wins playoff series, and the Phillies executing it on a Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati in the middle of a nine-game road trip to close out the first half tells you this team knows how to win games in every possible way, whether it’s eight runs in the ninth inning in Washington or a single manufactured run behind seven scoreless from the third ace in the rotation.
Few More Words on Justin Crawford
Crawford’s RBI single through the right side that scored the game’s only run was the latest evidence that the rookie center fielder is figuring things out at the major league level because his .333 average over his last 30 games in 87 at-bats shows sustained production rather than a hot week or a lucky stretch.
Mattingly credited the way Crawford has handled the uneven parts of his season by staying consistent with his preparation and his approach rather than pressing when things weren’t going well. Crawford said the work behind the scenes has been the key to staying on track through the ups and downs of his first full major league season, and the combination of his bat-to-ball skills and his speed in center field gives the Phillies a legitimate everyday contributor at a position that was a question mark heading into the season.
The bottom of the Phillies’ order with Crawford, Hill’s speed off the bench, and Rincones’ emerging power has been a strength over the last few weeks in a way that it wasn’t earlier in the season when the offense was top-heavy and the six through nine hitters were dead spots that opposing pitchers could cruise through without any concern.
Having young players who can manufacture runs through speed, contact, and aggressiveness on the basepaths gives Mattingly options in close games that he didn’t have when the offense was entirely dependent on Schwarber, Harper, and Marsh producing every night.
Jesus Luzardo is a DEMON
In the second inning Luzardo walked off the mound and pointed into the Reds’ dugout after the frame ended because the competitor in him comes out on the mound in ways that are visible from every seat in the stadium, and Crawford said it was obvious even from center field that Luzardo was pitching with an edge that went beyond normal competitive intensity.
Whatever was said between the mound and the Cincinnati dugout, the result was a pitcher who channeled that energy into seven scoreless innings and 11 strikeouts against a lineup that had been mashing the night before.
The edge is working because Jesus Luzardo’s recent surge has coincided with a visible increase in his on-mound intensity and his willingness to show emotion between innings and after big strikeouts.
The sweeper is the weapon but the mentality behind it is what makes the pitch so devastating because hitters can see that Luzardo is pitching with a purpose that goes beyond getting outs and extends into the territory of wanting to embarrass the opposing lineup on every single pitch.
The Phillies Head to Detroit Riding Jesus Luzardo’s Wave
The Phillies won the series in Cincinnati two games to one behind Wheeler’s 14-strikeout masterpiece on Tuesday and Luzardo’s seven scoreless on Thursday, which is the kind of pitching-driven series win that championship-caliber rotations produce on the road against quality opponents in the middle of July when the games start mattering more and the margin between winning and losing gets thinner.
The Phillies head to Detroit for three games to close out the road trip before the All-Star break, and Luzardo’s next start will very likely come at the 96th Midsummer Classic at Citizens Bank Park where the first-time All-Star will take the mound in front of the home crowd on the biggest stage of his career.
The Phillies are 52-41 with the top three rotation performing at a level that gives them a chance to beat anyone in the National League in a short series, and Thursday’s 1-0 win in Cincinnati was the most complete pitching performance of the road trip from a staff that has been the backbone of everything Mattingly has built since taking over a 9-19 team and turning it into one of the best clubs in baseball.
Luzardo is dealing. Wheeler is dealing. Sanchez had a rough one in Kansas City but the body of work speaks for itself across 18 starts. When all three are rolling at the same time, this rotation has the highest ceiling of any in the National League and the Phillies are getting a preview of what that ceiling looks like heading into October.
Detroit is next and then the All-Star break with five Phillies representing the franchise at Citizens Bank Park. The first half is almost over and the Phillies are in position to make the second half something special if Dombrowski addresses the bullpen and the rotation depth before August 3.
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Only thing I support in this article is the Lizardo is a Demon, he is but I know we mean it in different ways. He is the anti-Christ of baseball. The real Jesus showed up and got the job done. This Jesus Lizard King Lizardo is making himself out to be a false prophet on this Phillies roaster, painting himself as the pitching savor to the franchise. No, not me, I will not be fooled when we lose in the playoffs because of him. False prophet Jesus Lizardo is going to sit on that thrown of lies and never get the job done.
Idiotic comment.