PHILADELPHIA -- Jesús Luzardo spun like a top on his right leg, whipped his head around, and watched it go until the ball, the game, all of it vanished in the left-field bleachers 400 feet from home plate.
And it wasn't among the five hardest hits he allowed.
It was the fifth inning Wednesday night, and the lefty was getting crushed by the Chicago Cubs in what turned out to be an 11-2 Phillies humiliation (utilityman Dylan Moore pitched the ninth inning) that represented Luzardo's worst start in 11 months.
Add it to the list of the Phillies' concerns amid an 8-10 start that has everybody scratching their heads, no one more than Luzardo, who has given up 28 hits and 20 earned runs in 22 2/3 innings for a 7.94 ERA through four starts.
OK, as always, perspective is important. If the Phillies carved last season into a bunch of 18-game slices, they would find 21 in which they went 8-10 or worse. In 2024, they had 23 such segments.
They won 96 and 95 games, respectively.
It's possible, then, maybe even likely, that this is merely a bad first 18 games from a good team. But there's also enough early red flags to dig into as the Phillies get a day off Thursday to clear their heads.
Go ahead and take your pick:
- Entering the finale against the Cubs, the Phillies were ranked by Sports Info Solutions as the worst fielding team in the majors (minus-17 defensive runs saved). That rating wasn't helped in the third inning when catcher J.T. Realmuto's errant throw on a double-steal attempt was fumbled by backing-up Trea Turner, enabling a run to score.
- The Phillies came into the game batting .181 with a .534 OPS against left-handed starting pitchers, in part because their right-handed hitters were batting .150 with a .498 OPS. It got worse when Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga held them to three hits and racked up 11 strikeouts in six innings.
- Luzardo gave up nine runs on 12 hits, the highest totals against him since May 31 of last season against the Brewers. Five hits came off the Cubs' bats at more than 100 mph. Nico Hoerner’s two-run homer in the fifth inning was 99.1 mph off the bat.
The Cubs grabbed a 3-1 lead in the third inning, capitalizing on the Phillies' sloppiness. They broke open the game in the fifth with five hits in a row, including Hoerner's two-run homer.
But it was the sixth inning when the Cubs really teed off with another string of five consecutive hits, all with one out. Back-to-back-to-back singles by Dansby Swanson, Miguel Amaya, and Pete Crow-Armstrong were followed by Matt Shaw’s two-run double to knock Luzardo from the game.
Turner gave the Phillies a 1-0 headstart with a leadoff homer. After that, the 38,254 paying customers had little to cheer about until the folks who stuck around were rewarded with Bryce Harper’s garbage-time homer in the ninth.