ATLANTA -- Braves manager Walt Weiss was skeptical when he heard Don Mattingly call Jesús Luzardo an “opener” for Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday afternoon at Truist Park.
“Donnie is great, man,” Weiss said. “I think if he's pitching well, he'll keep going.”
Weiss was right. Luzardo kept going in his first start since Sept. 7 because of inflammation in his left shoulder. He allowed one run on three hits and one walk in five innings, striking out six. It was a tremendous success for the Phillies and Luzardo, considering the three-week layoff and the stakes.
The Phillies took a calculated risk when they named Luzardo the starter. He threw only four pitches in a scoreless inning in Sunday’s regular-season finale, which were the only batters he had faced since Sept. 7.
But it was a risk worth taking because Luzardo might have been baseball’s best pitcher since early summer. His 1.69 ERA since June 10 was the lowest in the Majors, after all. In other words, a potentially rusty Luzardo might still be better than anything else the Phillies had to open the best-of-three series against the Braves at Truist Park.
Luzardo retired the side on 10 pitches in the first inning. He allowed a run in the second, but it’s a run that probably shouldn’t have scored.
In that frame, Luzardo allowed a leadoff double to Mauricio Dubón, who advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. He walked Ozzie Albies to put runners at the corners. Austin Riley then hit a 1-1 fastball off the knob of his bat. Luzardo fielded the ball and started to turn toward second base, where Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto was telling Luzardo to throw. But Luzardo caught Dubón out of the corner of his eye. Luzardo instead got Dubón in a rundown for the second out.
Albies got to third on the play, and Mike Yastrzemski singled to score a run and tie the game. Luzardo allowed one hit and three baserunners the rest of the way, giving way to rookie right-hander Alex McFarlane in the sixth inning.