Jesús Luzardo's big bounceback season continues against his former team in Phillies' win over the Marlins

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sep 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MIAMI — Last September, Jesús Luzardo wanted nothing more than to stand atop the mound here, 50 miles from where he grew up, and start a major league game again.

And now?

Well, let’s put it this way: Luzardo spun six solid innings Saturday to defeat his hometown Miami Marlins, 4-2, blending with how he has pitched throughout most of an impressive bounce-back season with the Phillies.

Staked to an early lead on Bryce Harper’s first-inning two-run homer against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, Luzardo dominated at times, striking out five of six batters in one stretch. He leaned again on his sweeping slider, mixing it with a fastball that scraped 98.5 mph.

But for a brief hiccup in the fourth inning, when the Marlins halved the Phillies’ 4-0 lead on two infield hits, a bloop, and a double off the left-field wall, Luzardo was in complete control.

And when he handed over the ball after the sixth inning, his season numbers looked like this:

— 29 starts

— 161 2/3 innings

— 190 strikeouts

— 4.01 ERA

The Phillies (83-59) won their third straight game and for the seventh time in nine games. They increased their lead in the NL East to 6 1/2 games over the Mets, who were playing Saturday night. The Phillies also had a 4 1/2-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers for a bye in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

Even without Zack Wheeler, starting pitching continues to be the Phillies’ strength. And they wouldn’t have expected more from Luzardo when they traded for him in December, especially coming off a season in which injuries limited him to 66 2/3 innings with the Marlins.

Harper banged Alcantara’s 12th pitch of the game —a two-strike fastball — to straightaway center field for the early lead.

And the Phillies’ newly minted trio of primary outfielders supplied insurance for Luzardo in the fourth.

Brandon Marsh led off with a double and scored on a bloop single by Harrison Bader. After Max Kepler singled, Edmundo Sosa beat out an infield single to load the bases, and Bader scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Bryson Stott.