Jun 22, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) enters the field before the game against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Last time Jesus Luzardo got rocked by the opposition, it was because he was allegedly tipping his pitches.
This time, it's because of the adjustment he made in the stretch so he doesn't tip his pitches.
Either way, there's too much of whatever it is lately.
Luzardo lasted just two official innings on Friday. He did face six batters in the third, but that was the inning when the Cincinnati decided to put on a third fireworks show at Citizens Bank Park - only this one was in the middle of an absolutely gorgeous Independence Day afternoon.
The Phillies lost a weird and sometimes wild game 9-6. They stranded 11 runners on base. There was more sloppy baserunning. There was a time expiration on an attempted replay review request. There was Alec Bohm slamming his bat into the ground after being called out looking on a strike that was wholly in the zone with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth.
And while all of that and more was happening, Luzardo was long showered and dressed and watching from the clubhouse.
He gave up six hits. he walked three more. He couldn't command either his slider or his changeup, and the Reds just sat on his fastball. He was doomed.
After starting the season with 11 dazzling starts which had him leading all pitchers in baseball in WAR, Luzardo has come crashing back to earth. He had two absolutely dreadful starts against Milwaukee and Toronto that were well documented, because those were the games where he was thought to be tipping pitches.
Since then he's had five starts - two that were good, one that was O.K., one that was shaky, and then today's, where he if Citizens Bank Park was metaphorically a grill on the holiday, Luzardo was the charcoal and the Reds were the lighter fluid.
In his first 11 starts, Luzardo was 5-0 with a 2.15 ERA and a 1.179 WHIP.
In his last seven starts he's 2-5 with a 9.50 ERA and a 2.110 WHIP.
I feel like 10 base runners in 2+ IP is a lot.
Maybe it wasn’t as simple as “tipping” pitches.
It's basically been two separate seasons for him.
And he's getting torched when he pitches out of the stretch. Just on Friday alone, he faced 15 batters total. The six batters he faced out of the windup went 1-for-5, with one walk and striking out three times.
The nine batters he faced out of the stretch, went 5-for-7 with two walks and one strikeout.
"That's a good observation," Luzardo said. "We tinkered a lot with coming out of the stretch with the whole pitch-tipping thing. We made a big change in terms of my hands. It's about getting comfortable. Obviously we're already at mid-season, so there's no adjustment period. You got to figure it out. ... There's no excuse for it. "
Luzardo is holding the glove and ball against his body differently since the Toronto game on June 5. It's mostly to protect from runners seeing his grip when they are on second base.
But it's impacting him in other situations too.
"He shouldn't be," manager Rob Thomson said when asked about Luzardo struggling with the change in his delivery out of the stretch. "He's experienced. I don't think he should be (struggling)."
So what is it?
"I think he needs to get back in the zone a little bit more, for sure, and induce some swings and ... soft contact. I don't think he's hunting strikeouts, but it'd be nice if he were a little more efficient."
With the Phillies sending Mick Abel back down to Triple A, Andrew Painter not ready for his Big League debut, Aaron Nola still on the mend and Taijuan Walker being bounced from the rotation to the bullpen like a tennis ball in a match between two serve-and-volley players, the Phillies need a little more reliability out of the other spots in their rotation.
Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez are certainly doing their part - but Luzardo has fallen off.
"I still have all the confidence in the world in Luzardo," Thomson said. "Everybody is going to have bad outings here and there. I think we're still fine."
