No matter the situation throughout the season, whether during their current hot streak or when they lost three in a row in New York against the Mets a couple weeks ago, manager Rob Thomson rarely misses the opportunity to remind people how resilient his group is.
Oh, how that sweep by the Mets seems so long ago now as the Phillies climbed out of an early deficit to pin a devastating 6-4 loss on New York and improved to 87-60 on the season, while increasing their lead to 11 games in the National League East. They have won 11 of 14 since that ugly Mets series.
Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo had a first inning against the New York Mets that he’d soon like to forget. But he’ll fondly recall his next seven innings in which he was, literally, perfect.
The visitors racked up four runs on five hits in that opening inning on Luzardo, who needed 23 pitches to get through.
Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto led off the game with consecutive singles and put runners on second and third when they executed a double steal. Singles by Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo each drove in a run before a double by Starling Marte plated two more and before everyone had a chance to settle into their seats.
All Luzardo did after that was retire the next 21 batters he faced.
After striking out Lindor to end the eighth, not only did Phillies fans give him a standing ovation, catcher J.T. Realmuto waited for him on the field for a hug with the whole dugout up and clapping. Luzardo finished the night with 10 strikeouts, no walks and threw only 74 pitches over those last seven perfect innings.
“The whole game was probably as impressive a win as we’ve had all year,” said Rob Thomson. “Luzardo gives up the four in the first, up in the zone a little bit, behind in the count a little bit and then he just settled right in and gave us eight strong. It’s really unbelievable. The offense kept coming. They just didn’t quit. It was just a great win overall.”
One that may not have come had Luzardo not done a complete turnaround after that first in improving to 14-6 on the season.
“The mentality kind of stayed the same of just keep making good pitches,” said Luzardo of his reaction after the first inning. “I felt like I made some good pitches in the first but they found some holes, put some good swings on it. Just understanding their approach, they’re going to swing early, attack and try to get in and out of at-bats quick. Just kind of use their aggression against them.
“Keeping us in the game was huge. At the end of the day all we can control is the pitches we make and the outcomes we can’t control. I didn’t really soak it in. I was trying to get one more out of Topper but he shot it down pretty quick. I couldn’t tell you (last time I threw seven perfect innings). Maybe in high school but it definitely wasn’t after giving up four in the first. I found out after. I knew it’d been a while (since allowing a baserunner). In the eighth the first was already kind of a blur.”
Otto Kemp cut New York’s lead in half in the fourth inning when he belted a two-run home run to center, scoring Nick Castellanos who had walked before him. They added another in the fifth on a two-out double to right to score Weston Wilson. An inning later, everyone had a chance to hit as the Phillies batted around and scored three runs for a 6-4 lead.
“That first inning he gives up a couple runs and you know it’s just that he needs to settle in a little bit and it’s cool to see him get a couple of those innings quickly and for us to try and turn the momentum on our side,” said Kemp, who finished the game with two hits, two runs scored and three RBI. “I think there’s just no panic. It’s early and we had nine innings to do our work and just put together good at-bats. Eventually, you look up in the ninth and you’re up by two.”
Because a game like that needed an ending only Jhoan Duran can provide, he did his part by striking out the side in the ninth to pick up his 29th save of the season and his 13th with the Phillies.
“I’ve been saying the last three or four starts, my body has just hit a second gear, and I feel really good, the arm feels good and I feel like my stuff and my velocity is the best it’s been all year,” said Luzardo.
Those final seven innings are sure proof of that.
He also had some help from his defense as Harper made a great diving stop at first for an out, Castellanos made one of his running, sliding catches out in right and Edmundo Sosa gobbled up a slow grounder in the eighth and made a strong throw against his body for another out.
“We did a lot of really good things tonight,” said Thomson. “Just all around, just a great effort. They’re excited tonight, it was a big series, and we have another one tomorrow and we can’t let down. We’ve got to keep battling, keep grinding. But I think because of the experience on the club, everybody just kind of stays even keel and understands that we’ve got to go get it again.
“We have goals that we still have to achieve. You can’t think about feelings right now, you just got to keep playing. They just don’t quit. They’re very resilient.”
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