PHILADELPHIA -- When Jesús Luzardo went from being an early Cy Young candidate to his historically bad two-start stretch a month ago, the Phillies chalked it up to a pitch-tipping issue.
It might be time for another deep dive.
Luzardo was hit hard in Friday's 9-6 loss to the Reds at Citizens Bank Park. He allowed six runs (five earned) off six hits and three walks while lasting only two-plus innings.
Luzardo started the day strong, retiring the first four batters he faced -- including three via strikeout. But he retired only two of his final 11 hitters and was removed after allowing all six Reds he faced in the third to reach safely.
After posting a 2.15 ERA through his first 11 starts, Luzardo’s season ERA now sits at 4.44.
“Every time I'm out there, I feel like my stuff is just as good,” Luzardo said. “Now, it's just more of commanding it and throwing it for strikes.”
Luzardo simply did not have an effective breaking ball at his disposal on Friday. He threw only 12 breaking balls (seven sweepers, five sliders), and none of the 12 were in the zone. The Reds swung at three of them, resulting in one foul ball and two whiffs. The other nine were called balls -- most of which were well off the plate.
That led to leaning heavily on his fastball (26 pitches) and his changeup (19 pitches). That combo accounted for 75% of Luzardo’s total offerings -- his second-highest fastball-changeup percentage in any of his 18 starts this season.
And with Luzardo unable to command his breaking pitches, the Reds simply waited for Luzardo to come in the zone with his fastball and made him pay.
“I think we did a good job knowing that he didn’t have his best command,” said Reds first baseman Spencer Steer. “We were patient and made him come to us, and we did have some really good at-bats.”
The third inning was reminiscent of the version of Luzardo from that aforementioned two-start stretch.
On May 31, he allowed 12 runs over 3 1/3 innings against the Brewers, with eight of the 12 coming in the fourth inning. Five days later, he was tagged for eight runs in just 2 1/3 innings vs. the Blue Jays.
Luzardo bounced back with 10 strikeouts over six strong innings against the Cubs on June 11. He also threw 6 2/3 scoreless against the Mets on June 22. But in between, he allowed four runs in five innings against the Marlins. Even when he threw five innings of two-run ball last Saturday against Atlanta, he worked around a lot of traffic on the bases.
Even disregarding the two blowups, Luzardo has allowed 33 baserunners over just 18 2/3 innings in his past four starts. That's an average of 1.77 per inning. Overall, Luzardo's season WHIP has jumped to 1.47. That's the second-highest mark among 72 qualified starters this season (Jack Kochanowicz, 1.56).
Luzardo has struggled particularly with pitching out of the stretch, leaving him susceptible to certain innings spiraling out of control once runners get on base.
“We tinkered a lot with coming out of the stretch with the whole pitch-tipping thing,” he said. “We made a big change in terms of my hands, so it's more of just getting comfortable. Obviously, we're already midseason, so there's no adjustment period -- it's just, you've got to figure it out.”
Added manager Rob Thomson: “He’s got to be able to throw strikes out of the stretch.”
For a unit that has undoubtedly carried the club to this point, the starting rotation suddenly has some concerns. Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez are arguably the Majors' best starting trio, but the Phillies' rotation depth has gone from a strength to a bit of a question mark beyond those three.
Luzardo's latest stumble came on the same day the club optioned a struggling Mick Abel to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Taijuan Walker will start in his place Tuesday in San Francisco, but it's unclear who will occupy that No. 5 spot moving forward until Aaron Nola is ready to return.
Toss in some potential uncertainty around Luzardo, and the back end of Philadelphia’s rotation looks much different than a month ago.
“I still have all the confidence in the world in Luzardo,” Thomson said. “He's going to have -- everybody is going to have -- bad outings here and there. I think we're still fine.”