Jun 11, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) throws a pitch against the Chicago Cubs in the sixth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Jesús Luzardo silenced concerns Wednesday with a dominant six-inning performance, striking out 10 as the Phillies defeated the Chicago Cubs 7-2, securing a series win and locking up a tiebreaker, if that were to come into play at the end of the season.
After allowing a staggering 20 earned runs in his previous two starts, Luzardo made a triumphant return on Wednesday, surrendering just one run on five hits, and issuing no walks.
Luzardo said he was tipping pitches in his last two starts - and maybe he was. But maybe more than that, he needed better execution, and the gameplan with how he was going to attack hitters completely changed.
For example, in the last two starts, both horrible outings, Luzardo threw more sweepers than any other pitch, and limited his four-seam fastball usage.
That changed in a big way against the Cubs.
After using his four-seamer 30% of the time against Milwaukee and just 23% of the time against Toronto. Luzardo threw it 46% of the time against the Cubs.
Another gameplan change was the reduction of the sweeper. A new pitch for Luzardo this season, it had been incredibly effective before the last two starts, but he and catcher J.T. Realmuto decided to use it more sparingly against Chicago.
He used the sweeper just 16% of the time against the Cubs compared to 32% against the Brewers and 25% against the Blue Jays.
It was his most-used pitch in each of those two starts. It was his fourth pitch on Wednesday.
Finally, he abandoned his sinker entirely. After using it 15% total in both of those losses, he didn't throw one sinker against the Cubs.
When asked after the game if abandoning the sinker was part of the gameplan, Luzardo smiled, and said, "Who knows?"
Fearful of letting too much information out, as all pitchers are, Luzardo didn't say much specifically, but he did admit that in the past five days they toyed with a lot.
"There was a lot of things that we tinkered with," Luzardo said. "The biggest thing was attention to detail. Attention to where we want to go. Pitch selection. I think we had a really solid gameplan today."
Maybe part of that attention to detail was the pitch-tipping.
Jesús Luzardo, Changeups (both with a runner on 2B)
Old hand position is in Red outline. pic.twitter.com/wvZLl6K4AS
If you look at that video, not only is the hand position different, but it looks like the glove is a little bigger allowing him to hide his hand better.
For a more detailed look:
Jesus Luzardo learned he was likely tipping pitches the past two games, especially with runners on 2B.
If you're tipping pitches in 2025, you're going to get crushed. And this is perfectly legal, part of the game. Probably much more common than most realize.
His numbers w/ a… pic.twitter.com/vNZjM3vjFP
Phillies manager Rob Thomson had said previously that the team would take a deep dive into what Luzardo was doing to see if he was tipping pitches. And while an adjustment was maybe made when there is a runner on second base, he only faced four batters with a runner on second. He did strike out out three of them and induced a ground out on the fourth, but that alone wasn't the fix that was needed, just a small fix.
"Maybe a little bit (it helped), but it was more about execution than anything else," Thomson said. "On righties, (his pitches) weren't leaking back over the middle of the plate, and that was really the key."
Philadelphia’s offense provided solid backing, crafting a three-run first inning highlighted by an RBI groundout from Alec Bohm, a two-run double by Max Kepler, and an RBI single by Realmuto.
Kyle Schwarber’s solo home run in the third and Bohm’s two-run single in the fourth pushed the lead to 6-1
Bohm capped his big day with a solo homer in the seventh, finishing with two hits and four RBIs
Interestingly, Luzardo’s bounce back was also his fourth 10-plus strikeout outing this season - the most by a Phillies pitcher in their first 15 starts with the team since Steve Carlton in 1972.
"I don't think anyone else on the planet wanted it more than I did," Luzardo said. It was a relief."
Not just for him, but for an entire organization that needed to exhale.
