Subscribe
Follow Us
The Philadelphia Phillies' rotation has been led by offseason acquisition Jesus Luzardo, who is dominating on a weekly basis.
The southpaw continued his brilliance in Tuesday's start against the Colorado Rockies, tossing six innings of one-run baseball while striking out 10 hitters. Luzardo lowered his ERA to 1.95 while improving his record to a perfect 5-0.
In the process, the starter also made impressive MLB history, joining Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.
Via OptaSTATS:
Since ERA became official in both leagues in 1913, two MLB lefties have gone undefeated with a sub-2.00 ERA and 10.00+ K/9 over their first 10 starts of a season.
One is the @Phillies' Jesús Luzardo this year.
The other was Randy Johnson in 1995. pic.twitter.com/Bg0fxKZ9s8
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) May 21, 2025
You love to see it. As mentioned, his ERA is below two, and Luzardo is striking out 10.1 hitters per nine innings. He's racked up 67 Ks in 60 innings of work. The lefty was a relatively solid pitcher during his time with the Miami Marlins, but no one was predicting him to be this stellar.
Jesus Luzardo hasn't given up more than three earned runs in a single start in 2025. He ranks third in the National League in ERA behind only Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Kodai Senga. With Aaron Nola struggling early on and dealing with an injury, it's been huge that Luzardo is throwing the ball so well alongside Zack Wheeler at the top of this Phillies staff.
Skipper Rob Thomson praised Luzardo heavily for pitching deep into Tuesday's ballgame, which saved a couple of crucial bullpen arms.
Via The Philadelphia Inquirer:
“There are quite a few [relievers] we had tonight that if we had to use, they wouldn’t be available [Wednesday],” Thomson said. “He’s a grinder, man. He’s a gamer. I love him. He’s not going to give in. He’s going to fight.”
Luzardo echoed that sentiment, making it clear he was trying to stay in the game as long as he could:
“Obviously giving length and trying to save the bullpen as much as possible and eat up innings, I think it’s big for us as a starting rotation,” Jesus Luzardo said. “And I just wanted to go out and do that.”
Luzardo surpassed the 100-pitch mark for just the second time this season and also received tons of run support in the 7-4 win.
He'll continue to be a key piece for the Phillies as they eye a deep playoff run later this year.
